KR101787407B1 - A microfluidic freezer based on evaporative cooling of atomized aqueous microdroplets - Google Patents
A microfluidic freezer based on evaporative cooling of atomized aqueous microdroplets Download PDFInfo
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- KR101787407B1 KR101787407B1 KR1020150138151A KR20150138151A KR101787407B1 KR 101787407 B1 KR101787407 B1 KR 101787407B1 KR 1020150138151 A KR1020150138151 A KR 1020150138151A KR 20150138151 A KR20150138151 A KR 20150138151A KR 101787407 B1 KR101787407 B1 KR 101787407B1
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- microfluidic
- vacuum chamber
- vacuum
- storage tank
- cooling
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
- B01L7/00—Heating or cooling apparatus; Heat insulating devices
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
- G01N35/00—Automatic analysis not limited to methods or materials provided for in any single one of groups G01N1/00 - G01N33/00; Handling materials therefor
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
- B01L2300/00—Additional constructional details
- B01L2300/18—Means for temperature control
- B01L2300/1894—Cooling means; Cryo cooling
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
- G01N35/00—Automatic analysis not limited to methods or materials provided for in any single one of groups G01N1/00 - G01N33/00; Handling materials therefor
- G01N2035/00346—Heating or cooling arrangements
- G01N2035/00425—Heating or cooling means associated with pipettes or the like, e.g. for supplying sample/reagent at given temperature
Abstract
The present invention relates to a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of an atomized aqueous solution droplet, and by using a simple and efficient cooling device, cooling can be performed without relying on an external device having high energy consumption for cooling and freezing, There is a purpose. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid storage tank, comprising: a solution storage tank filled with an aqueous solution-based coolant; A microfluidic vacuum chamber in which a coolant supplied from a solution storage tank is dispersed in fine droplets in a vacuum state; A pipette tube connected to the solution storage tank and the microfluidic vacuum chamber so that a refrigerant stored in the solution storage tank flows through the microfluidic vacuum chamber; An orifice formed between the pipette tube and the microfluidic vacuum chamber to disperse microfluidic refrigerant through the injected air jets; And a vacuum pump for evacuating the microfluidic vacuum chamber.
Description
The present invention relates to a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of an atomized aqueous solution droplet, and more particularly, to a microfluidic cooling apparatus capable of effectively cooling a microdroplet formed by dispersing an aqueous solution in a microfluidic device, To a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of atomized aqueous solution droplets.
In general, accurate temperature control can be used for biochemical analysis (PCR, crystallization of proteins, etc.), life sciences research (cell damage by cooling, ice and cell interaction, etc.) and microfluidic control (temperature sensitive valves, And so on), which is essential for various micro fluid engineering applications.
On the other hand, cooling in contrast to joule heating is not easy to integrate into microfluidic devices and is now dependent on bulky and energy-consuming external devices [peltier cooling, chilled water cooling, Cooling through collision of high-pressure air particles, etc.].
Recently, research has been conducted on an integrated microfluidic cooling system using endothermic reaction of refrigerant (acetone, ethanol, ethyl ether, etc.) and gas (air, nitrogen, etc.)
However, this method is not widely used because of the toxic and flammable refrigerant used and the disadvantage of using a high-pressure gas tank.
Meanwhile, Guijt et al. And Maltezos et al. Studied integrated temperature control based on evaporative cooling. The flow of refrigerant (acetone, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl ether, etc.) and gas (air, nitrogen, etc.) are mixed in the Y-shaped microchannel and the heat is removed by the endothermic reaction while the refrigerant evaporates. When air and acetone were used, a normal cooling temperature of -4 ° C and a cooling rate of 1 ° C / s were obtained.
However, the fundamental limitations of previous studies, such as those described above, are that they are flammable, use harmful refrigerants and use pressurized gas tanks. In addition, if the design of the Y-shaped microchannel chip was made simpler with a single-channel microchannel, the integration could be increased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve all the problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for cooling an object to be cooled, The object of the present invention is to provide a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerating device that uses a simple and efficient cooling device, but can solve the disadvantage of using a high-pressure gas tank when a toxic but combustible refrigerant is used by using ultra pure water as a refrigerant It has its purpose.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device using a simple and efficient cooling device, in which a coolant is used as ultra pure water, The purpose is to make it possible to increase it further.
The present invention configured to achieve the above-described object is as follows. That is, the microfluidic cooling apparatus using the evaporative cooling of the atomized aqueous solution droplets according to the present invention comprises: a solution storage tank in which an aqueous solution-based coolant is filled and stored; A microfluidic vacuum chamber in which a coolant supplied from a solution storage tank is dispersed in fine droplets in a vacuum state; A pipette tube connected to the solution storage tank and the microfluidic vacuum chamber so that a refrigerant stored in the solution storage tank flows through the microfluidic vacuum chamber; An orifice formed between the pipette tube and the microfluidic vacuum chamber to disperse microfluidic refrigerant through the injected air jets; And a vacuum pump for evacuating the microfluidic vacuum chamber.
In the structure according to the present invention as described above, a moisture trap may be further disposed between the vacuum pump and the microfluidic vacuum chamber. The moisture trap is filled with a desiccant to remove moisture from the air and prevent moisture from entering the vacuum pump.
Further, in the structure according to the present invention, a vacuum flask may be further arranged between the wet trap and the microfluidic vacuum chamber so that the microfluidic vacuum chamber is vacuum-reduced by a vacuum pump.
Further, in the configuration according to the present invention, a pressure gauge for measuring the vacuum pressure may further be arranged between the vacuum flask and the microfluidic vacuum chamber.
Meanwhile, in each of the solution storage tank and the microfluidic vacuum chamber in the structure according to the present invention, a micro thermocouple may be further provided for measuring the temperature of the refrigerant stored in the solution storage tank and the steam temperature in the microfluidic vacuum chamber.
In addition, a monitoring PC for collecting and storing the vacuum pressure data measured by the pressure gauge and the temperature data measured by the micro-thermocouple in the configuration according to the present invention can be further configured.
Furthermore, the configuration according to the present invention may further comprise a camera for photographing the cooling process inside the microfluidic vacuum chamber.
The advantage of the present invention is that cooling can be accomplished without relying on an external device with high energy consumption for cooling and freezing by using a simple yet efficient cooling device.
In addition, the technology of the present invention can solve the disadvantage of using a high-pressure gas tank when a refrigerant that is toxic and combustible is used by using ultra pure water by using a simple and efficient cooling device.
In addition, the technology according to the present invention can increase the degree of integration by simply fabricating a microchannel chip in a single-channel microchannel in a cooling device using a coolant and using ultra pure water using a simple and efficient cooling device .
1 is a schematic view showing a microfluidic cooling device using evaporative cooling of an atomized aqueous solution droplet according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a graph showing the magnification of a droplet ejected by a droplet by collision of an air jet injected through an orifice through a through hole with a drug in a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of an atomized aqueous solution droplet according to the present invention; Diagram.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a droplet in a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of an atomized aqueous solution droplet according to the present invention, in which the droplet rapidly rises rapidly in a vacuum to lower the temperature and to freeze the solution.
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of atomized aqueous solution droplets according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of an atomized aqueous solution droplet according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a microfluidic cooling apparatus using evaporative cooling of atomized aqueous solution droplets according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a mate- rial jetted by a collision between an air jet injected through an orifice emerging from the nozzle and a drug, This is a schematic diagram in which the enemy rapidly bursts in the vacuum and the temperature is lowered and the solution is freezing.
The microfluidic cooling device using the evaporative cooling of the atomized aqueous solution droplets according to the present invention is a technology for water-based evaporative cooling for temperature control and ice generation. The reason for choosing water is that it is harmless to the human body and has good performance as a refrigerant Because.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 using evaporative cooling of the atomized aqueous solution droplets according to the present invention includes a
1, the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 according to the present invention constructed as described above is constructed by bonding a pipette tube (plastic tube) 130 having a
In the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 constructed as described above, the
In the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 constructed as described above, when the vacuum is applied by the operation of the
The refrigerant ejected into the
Next, as described above, when the droplet is rapidly evaporated in the course of dispersing the refrigerant in fine droplets by the air jet injected through the
The structure of the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 according to the present invention as described above includes a
The technique according to the present invention also includes a
The respective elements constituting the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 according to the present invention will now be described in more detail. First, the
In the structure of the
On the other hand, as described above, DI water is used as a refrigerant in the present invention because it is harmless to the human body and has excellent performance as a refrigerant. Due to the low pressure (~ 9.3 kPa) and the large surface-volume ratio, the dispersed droplets evaporate rapidly and thus effectively remove heat.
As a result of the experiment with the same configuration as in the present invention, immediately after the vacuum was applied to the
Next, the
In the
Next, the
The
1 and 2, the
More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an
As described above, when vacuum is applied to the inside of the
Next, the
When the
The
The
Next, the
The decompression by the
Next, in a configuration for monitoring the microfluid cooling process by the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 according to the present invention, a
On the other hand, the
The configuration of the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 according to the present invention further includes a
[Experimental Example]
Figure 1 shows the experimental equipment used in this experiment. A solution storage tank was constructed by adhering a disposable pipette (plastic tube) to a straight microfluidic channel, and an orifice was formed on the same plastic tube and then adhered to make a vacuum chamber. The solution storage tank was filled with aqueous refrigerant (ultrapure water, ethylene glycol solution, BSA solution), and the microfluidic vacuum chamber was connected to a vacuum pump. Moisture was removed from the air and a moisture trap was installed to prevent moisture from entering the vacuum pump.
In the configuration of the microfluidic cooling apparatus according to the present invention constructed as described above, water is spouted from the through-hole of the microfluidic chip at the moment of applying the vacuum, and the water is jetted through the orifice, Dispersed in droplets. As a result, the droplet evaporates rapidly as shown in FIG. Heat is removed by evaporation and the temperature in the microfluidic vacuum chamber decreases until the aqueous solution freezes in ice as shown in Fig.
Meanwhile, in the microfluidic cooling apparatus according to the present invention, the temperature of the microfluidic vacuum chamber was measured without disturbing the flow of the droplet and the air as much as possible by using a micro-thermocouple (diameter of 130 μm). The pressure of the microfluidic vacuum chamber was monitored with a digital pressure gauge, and temperature and pressure data were collected using a data acquisition board (DAQ board) and a monitoring PC. Using a digital camera, images of the processes of ice formation and freezing of protein solution in a microfluidic vacuum chamber were taken.
[Experiment result]
Various experiments have been conducted to demonstrate water-based evaporative cooling. Table 1 (a) shows the temperature change in the microfluidic vacuum chamber as a function of time when ultra pure water is used. At this time, the ambient temperature was approximately 24 占 폚. After the vacuum was applied (Pump On), the temperature was steeply decreased, reaching the freezing point (0 ℃) within 11.2 seconds on average, and the cooling rate was 2.1 ℃ / s.
On the other hand, the average minimum cooling temperature was -12 ℃. During the experiment, it was observed that water accumulates on the walls of the microfluidic vacuum chamber, where the water cooled and became ice and grew enough to interfere with the flow of droplets and air. This reduced the evaporation rate and consequently the temperature of the chamber.
On the other hand, the experiment was carried out using a 20% v / v ethylene glycol (EG) solution with a freezing point as low as -10 ° C, in order to observe the unobstructed flow of the droplets and air. Table 2 (b) shows that since the ethylene glycol solution does not freeze, the heat is stably removed to show no change in the cooling temperature. At this time, the average cooling rate was 3 ° C / s and the minimum cooling temperature was -10.2 ° C.
The same microfluidic device was then used to generate ice in the microfluidic device and to cool the biofluid. Ultrapure water and 10% w / v BSA solution were used as refrigerant. Table 2 (a) is a continuous image showing how ice is produced in the chamber when water is used as a refrigerant. That is, water droplets were scattered on the wall surface by pushing the droplets of air jet toward the chamber wall (10.0 s). The temperature was reduced below freezing and the water cooled (16.0 seconds). The ice continued to grow (43.7 seconds) until the droplet was continuously supplied and the microfluidic vacuum chamber nearly closed.
On the other hand, in Table 2 (b), the BSA solution was observed to cool down to almost half of the chamber (50.0 seconds). As the temperature decreased, the solubility of the protein decreased and BSA was observed to precipitate yellowishly. This is the first result of cooling the biofluid in the microfluidic chip using the aqueous solution as the refrigerant without an external cooling device.
Further, an experiment using 20% ethylene glycol solution as a refrigerant was carried out (experimental data is omitted). The ethylene glycol solution did not freeze. The results of this experiment can be expected that the freezing point of ethylene glycol is lower than that of ultrapure water and biofluid, and that supercooling phenomenon [6] may occur.
As described above, the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 according to the present invention has proved to be simple, non-toxic, and effective in a microfluid cooling method. Based on the evaporation of the aqueous solution, it succeeded in generating ice from the microfluidic chip and freezing the biofluid without an external cooling device.
In addition, since cooling can be performed even in a low vacuum (~ 9.3 kPa) state, if the portable small vacuum pump is used, the microfluidic cooling apparatus 100 can be downsized as a whole. In addition, although the
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications may be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.
100.
120.
140.
160.
180. Monitoring
184.
Claims (7)
A microfluidic vacuum chamber in which a through hole through which the refrigerant supplied from the solution storage tank is discharged is formed;
A pipette tube connected to the solution storage tank and the microfluidic vacuum chamber so that a refrigerant stored in the solution storage tank flows through the pipette tube when the microfluidic vacuum chamber is evacuated;
An orifice formed between the pipette tube and the microfluidic vacuum chamber to disperse the refrigerant in an uncleaned state through an air jet to be injected;
A vacuum pump for evacuating the microfluidic vacuum chamber;
A moisture trap disposed between the vacuum pump and the microfluidic vacuum chamber to remove moisture to prevent moisture from entering the vacuum pump; And
And a vacuum flask disposed between the humid trap and the microfluidic vacuum chamber for reducing pressure when the microfluidic vacuum chamber is evacuated by the vacuum pump. .
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| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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| KR1020150138151A KR101787407B1 (en) | 2015-09-30 | 2015-09-30 | A microfluidic freezer based on evaporative cooling of atomized aqueous microdroplets |
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| KR1020150138151A KR101787407B1 (en) | 2015-09-30 | 2015-09-30 | A microfluidic freezer based on evaporative cooling of atomized aqueous microdroplets |
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| KR20170038573A KR20170038573A (en) | 2017-04-07 |
| KR101787407B1 true KR101787407B1 (en) | 2017-10-18 |
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Citations (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP2002544494A (en) | 1999-05-11 | 2002-12-24 | アクララ バイオサイエンシーズ， インコーポレイテッド | Sample evaporation control |
| KR200332786Y1 (en) * | 2003-08-14 | 2003-11-07 | 이강일 | condensation apparatus for evaporative gas |
| JP2007268395A (en) * | 2006-03-31 | 2007-10-18 | Hitachi Ltd | Cooling system of microreactor |
Family Cites Families (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KR20020097093A (en) | 2002-11-09 | 2002-12-31 | 신세현 | Natural Convection Microfluidic Mixer |
| KR100546000B1 (en) | 2004-03-10 | 2006-01-25 | 한국과학기술원 | Microfluidic jet with adjustable droplet size |
| EP2040073A1 (en) | 2007-09-20 | 2009-03-25 | Iline Microsystems, S.L. | Microfluidic device and method for fluid clotting time determination |
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- 2015-09-30 KR KR1020150138151A patent/KR101787407B1/en active IP Right Grant
Patent Citations (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP2002544494A (en) | 1999-05-11 | 2002-12-24 | アクララ バイオサイエンシーズ， インコーポレイテッド | Sample evaporation control |
| KR200332786Y1 (en) * | 2003-08-14 | 2003-11-07 | 이강일 | condensation apparatus for evaporative gas |
| JP2007268395A (en) * | 2006-03-31 | 2007-10-18 | Hitachi Ltd | Cooling system of microreactor |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
| Title |
|---|
| Study on ice slurry production by water spray(B.S. Kim, IJR 24, 2001) |
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