METHOD FOR SIZE-SORTING MICROBUBBLES AND APPARATUS FOR THE SAME

摘要

Disclosed is a continuous method of size-sorting microbubbles, comprising: providing a polydisperse plurality of microbubbles (70); entraining said microbubbles (70) in a fluid flow (46) flowing in a flow direction (x+) towards a collection location (62); at an insonification location (60) upstream of the collection location (62), subjecting the microbubbles (70) in said fluid flow (46) to an acoustic pressure wave (52) propagating in a wave direction with a non-zero directional component in a microbubble segregation dimension (y) that extends perpendicular to the flow direction (x+), thereby segregating microbubbles of different equilibrium radius (ro) in said microbubble segregation dimension (y) as they pass the insonification location; and at said collection location (62), collecting the microbubbles (70) present within at least two spatial ranges (44a-c) of said microbubble segregation dimension (y). Also disclosed is an apparatus (1) implementing the method.