Microfluidics Control and Critical Fluid Management
Microfluidics is the focus of precisely controlling the behavior and exploitation of fluids that are physically constricted to a small scale. The liquid has the ability to flow in narrow spaces without the assistance of any external forces, and because it’s on a micro-scale, only low volumes are required. This makes Microfluidic devices ideal for lost cost applications.
Benefits of Microfluidics
One of the many benefits in measuring fluids on a micro level is that numerous operations can be completed simultaneously due to the compact size – ultimately shortening lead time. Another benefit is that it lowers the risk of human error through the micro fluid’s capacity to process and analyze fluid with the need for little handling.
SMD Sensors supplies microfluidic bubble sensors to support various applications where monitoring the presence of liquid in extremely small flow lines is critical. Our A130 bubble sensor is designed to detect bubbles or the presence of liquid in tubes with 1/16″ outside diameter. Also, the detector has been tested with tubing as small as 0.02″ (0.5mm) inside diameter, allowing us to detect bubbles as small as 200 nanoliters. Standard bubble sensor design requires compressing the tubing by as much as 20% of the outside diameter, which is not feasible with extremely small tubes.
Our A130 bubble sensor uses a low durometer thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) over-molded onto a rigid ABS housing to achieve good acoustic coupling with these small flow channels. Both of these devices are currently used by many medical device manufacturers for critical fluid management applications. Microfluidic devices are incorporated with automation allowing the user to generate multi-step functions without the need for a high level of expertise all while featuring a number of capabilities. Therefore, monitoring fluid with an SMD sensor, on a micro level, has a whole host of benefits for accurate and repeatable OEM applications.