Optical sectioning for microfluidics: secondary flow and mixing in a meandering microchannel

Lab Chip. 2008 Jan;8(1):125-33. doi: 10.1039/b713626a. Epub 2007 Oct 22.

Abstract

Secondary flow plays a critical function in a microchannel, such as a micromixer, because it can enhance heat and mass transfer. However, there is no experimental method to visualize the secondary flow and the associated mixing pattern in a microchannel because of difficulties in high-resolution, non-invasive, cross-sectional imaging. Here, we simultaneously imaged and quantified the secondary flow and pattern of two-liquid mixing inside a meandering square microchannel with spectral-domain Doppler optical coherence tomography. We observed an increase in the efficiency of two-liquid mixing when air was injected to produce a bubble-train flow and identified the three-dimensional enhancement mechanism behind the complex mixing phenomena. An alternating pair of counter-rotating and toroidal vortices cooperated to enhance two-liquid mixing.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Interferometry
  • Light
  • Microfluidics / methods*
  • Models, Chemical
  • Polystyrenes / chemistry
  • Time Factors
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence*
  • Water / chemistry

Substances

  • Polystyrenes
  • Water