A deep-reinforcement learning approach for optimizing homogeneous droplet routing in digital microfluidic biochips

Over the past two decades,digital microfluidic biochips have been in much demand for safety-critical and biomedical applications and increasingly important in point-of-care analysis,drug discovery,and immunoassays,among other areas.However,for complex bioassays,finding routes for the transportation of droplets in an electrowetting-on-dielectric digital biochip while maintaining their discreteness is a challenging task.In this study,we propose a deep reinforcement learning-based droplet routing technique for digital microfluidic biochips.The technique is implemented on a distributed architecture to optimize the possible paths for predefined source–target pairs of droplets.The actors of the technique calculate the possible routes of the source–target pairs and store the experience in a replay buffer,and the learner fetches the experiences and updates the routing paths.The proposed algorithm was applied to benchmark suitesⅠand Ⅲ as two different test benches,and it achieved significant improvements over state-of-the-art techniques.

Characterization of a novel fluidic friction-reduction tool used in extended-reach well considering periodic particle-laden jet

Fluidic oscillators(FOs)can be used as an efficient fluidic vibration tool to solve high friction problems in extended-reach wells.However,the complex mechanism of FOs makes the design challenging,and the dynamic erosion behavior inside FOs is still unclear.In this paper,new FOs are proposed and the working characteristics under the influence of periodic particle-laden jets are investigated.Firstly,the results reveal the working mechanism of new FOs,showing that the generation of pressure pulses is closely connected with periodic jet switching and the development of vortices.Secondly,the important performance parameters,i.e.,pressure pulse and oscillation frequency,are extensively studied through numerical simulation and experimental verification.It is found that the performance can be optimized by adjusting the tool structure according to different engineering requirements.Finally,the oscillating solid-liquid two-phase flow inside FO is studied.It is demonstrated that the accumulation of particles leads to a significant reduction in performance.The results also reveal five locations that are susceptible to erosion and the erosion behavior of these locations are studied.It has been shown that the periodic jet causes fluctuations in the amount of erosion at the outlet and splitter.This research can provide valuable references for the design and optimization of vibration friction-reduction tools.

An Investigation of Bubble Motion in the Fluidic Oscillator

Enhanced gas-liquid mass transfer is significant for the desulfurization and denitration of ship exhaust gases.As a fluid device,the special structure of the fluidic oscillator generates self-excited oscillations that can effectively enhance the mass transfer process of gas-liquid.But there are few studies on the internal gas-liquid flow.The transportation of individual bubbles in the fluidic oscillator was investigated by a high-speed camera and digital image analysis.The results show that the bubble experienced a significant deceleration process in the chamber region of the fluidic oscillator.In addition,the maximum bubble offset increased with the diameter of the initial bubble.The trajectory of the bubble showed zigzag movement due to the deflecting oscillation of the fluidic oscillator.At the same time,the deformation of the bubble was intensified by the deflecting oscillation.The deformation ratio of the bubble increased with the increase of Reynolds number.By studying the transport process of a single bubble in the fluid oscillator,it is considered that the fluid oscillator has the potential to be a new bubble generator.

Study on hydrodynamic vibration in fluidic flowmeter

The characteristics of the fluidic flowmeter,which is a combination of impinged concave wall and bistable fluid amplifier,is investigated by experimental studies and numerical simulations. The numerical approaches are utilized to examine the time dependent flow field and pressure field inside the proposed flowmeter. The effect of varying structural parameters on flow characteristics of the proposed fluidic flowmeter is investigated by computational simulations for the optimization. Both the simulation and experimental results disclose that the hydrodynamic vibration,with the same intensity,frequency and 180° phase shift,occurs at axisymmetric points in the feedback channel of the fluidic flowmeter. Using the structural combination of impinged concave wall and bistable fluid amplifier and differential signal processing technique,a novel fluidic flowmeter with excellent immunity and improved sensibility is developed.

A Twin Unidirectional Impulse Turbine for Wave Energy Conversion—Effect of Fluidic Diode on the Performance

As a system using a conventional unidirectional air turbine in oscillating water column (OWC) based on a wave energy plant, a twin unidirectional impulse turbine topology has been suggested in previous studies. However, the average efficiency of the suggested twin turbine is considerably lower than that of a conventional unidirectional turbine in this topology because reciprocating air flow can’t be rectified adequately by a unidirectional turbine. In order to improve the efficiency, using fluidic diode is discussed. In this study, two different fluidic diodes were discussed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and a wind tunnel test. Further, its usefulness is discussed from a view point of the turbine efficiency. The fluidic diode was shown to improve rectification of the topology. However, it needs more improvement in regards to its energy loss in order to enhance the turbine efficiency.

A Study on Fluidic Diode for Wave Energy Conversion-Effect of Bypass Geometry on the Turbine Performance

A twin-impulse turbine for bi-directional flow has been developed for wave energy converter. However, the previous studies elucidated that the mean efficiency of the twin turbine is much lower than that of the impulse turbine for a unidirectional flow because a portion of airflow passes through the reverse flow turbine whose efficiency is very low. Therefore, a fluidic diode was adopted in the twin-impulse turbine in order to reduce the air flow through the reverse flow turbine. In this study, the rectification effect of the fluidic diode was investigated where a bypass is introduced into a blunt body. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of fluidic diodes on the turbine performance. In this analysis, RANS equations were used as the governing equations and the standard k-ε model was used as the turbulence model. The computational domain is composed of a circular tube and fluidic diode, and the domain meshed with an approximately 1.5 million mesh elements. As a result, it was found that the rectification effect of the fluidic diode is enhanced by installing a blunt body with a bypass hole of 5° taper angle.

Experimental Investigation of Nonlinear Vibration Isolator with Fluidic Actuators (NLVIFA)

This paper elaborates a nonlinear fluidic low frequency vibration isolator designed with the characteristics of quasi-zero stiffness(QZS).The existing model of QZS vibration isolator enhances amplitude of vibration and attenuating vibration frequencies.This concern with displacement plays a vital role in the performance and instability of oblique spring setup reduces the isolator performance in horizontal non-nominal loads,in this accordance;this paper associates double acting hydraulic cylinder(fluidic actuators in short)in oblique and helical coil spring.An approximate expression of unique analytical relationship between the stiffness of vertical spring and bulk modulus of the fluid is derived for Quasi–Zero Stiffness Non-Linear Vibration Isolator with Fluidic Actuators(NLVIFA in short)system and the force transmissibility is formulated and damping ratio are discussed for characteristic analysis.Modal analysis carried out and compared with analytical results and an experimental prototype is developed and investigated.The performance of the NLVIFA reduces the external embarrassment more at low frequencies and the series of experimental studies showing that the soft nonlinearity causes limitation in the resonant frequency thereupon the isolation will be enhanced and NLVIFA greatly outperform some other type of nonlinear isolators.

Combination of Micro-fluidic Chip with Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy for Single Molecule Detection

A single molecule detection technique was developed by the combination of a single channel poly （dimethylsiloxane）/glass micro-fluidic chip and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy （FCS）. This method was successfully used to determine the proportion of two model components in the mixture containing fluorescein and the rhodamine-green succinimidyl ester.

Simulation of the fluidic features for diffuser/nozzle involved in a PZT-based valveless micropump

PZT-based valveless micropump is a microactuator that can be used for controlling and delivering tiny amounts of fluids,and diffuser/nozzle plays an important role when this type of micropump drives the fluid flowing along a specific direction.In this paper,a numerical model of micropump has been proposed,and the fluidic properties of diffuser/nozzle have been simulated with ANSYS.With the method of finite-element analysis,the increased pressure drop between inlet and outlet of diffuser/nozzle induces the increment of flow rate in both diffuser and nozzle simultaneously,but the increasing rate of diffuser is faster than that of nozzle.The L/R,ratio of L(length of cone pipe) and R(radius of minimal cross section of cone pipe) plays an important role in fluidic performance of diffuser and nozzle as well,and the mean flow rate will decrease with increment of L/R.The mean flow rate reaches its peak value when L/R with the value of 10 regardless the divergence angle of diffuser or nozzle.The simulation results indicate that the fluidic properties of diffuser/nozzle can be defined by its geometric structure,and accordingly determine the efficiency of micropump.

Modular Soft Robotic Crawlers Based on Fluidic Prestressed Composite Actuators

Soft robotic crawlers have limited payload capacity and crawling speed.This study proposes a high-performance inchworm-like modular robotic crawler based on fluidic prestressed composite(FPC)actuators.The FPC actuator is precurved and a pneumatic source is used to flatten it,requiring no energy cost to maintain the equilibrium curved shape.Pressurizing and depressurizing the actuators generate alternating stretching and bending motions of the actuators,achieving the crawling motion of the robotic crawler.Multi-modal locomotion(crawling,turning,and pipe climbing)is achieved by modular reconfiguration and gait design.An analytical kinematic model is proposed to characterize the quasi-static curvature and step size of a single-module crawler.Multiple configurations of robotic crawlers are fabricated to demonstrate the crawling ability of the proposed design.A set of systematic experiments are set up and conducted to understand how crawler responses vary as a function of FPC prestrains,input pressures,and actuation frequencies.As per the experiments,the maximum carrying load ratio(carrying load divided by robot weight)is found to be 22.32,and the highest crawling velocity is 3.02 body length(BL)per second(392 mm/s).Multi-modal capabilities are demonstrated by reconfiguring three soft crawlers,including a matrix crawler robot crawling in amphibious environments,and an inching crawler turning at an angular velocity of 2/s,as well as earthworm-like crawling robots climbing a 20 inclination slope and pipe.

Effect of Fluidic Diode on Performance of Unidirectional Impulse Turbine

A pair of unidirectional turbines(UT)can operate in oscillatory airflow without additional units.However,this arrangement suffers from poor flow rectification.A fluidic diode(FD)offers variable hydrodynamic resistance based on the flow direction,and this can be coupled with UT to improve flow rectification.In this work,a numerical investigation on the effect of FD with UT is presented using the commercial fluid dynamics software ANSYS Fluent 16.1 with k-ωSST turbulence closure model.Periodic domains of UT and FD are numerically validated individually with experimental results.Later,both are coupled to obtain the combined effect,and these results are compared with the analytical approach.It was observed that coupling FD with UT improved the unit's performance at the lower flow coefficient(<1),but its performance decreased as the flow coefficient increased.Due to the diode's presence,fluid leaving the turbine experiences higher resistance at a higher flow coefficient,which decreases the overall performance of the combined unit.

Interference-Based Optical Measurement of Fluidic Flow in a Hollow-Core Fiber

In this study, we present speed and displacement measurements of micro-fluid in a hollow-core optical fiber, where an optical interference signal is created by two guided beams reflected at a fixed facet and a moving fluid end. By counting the number of intensity oscillations of the signal, the movement of the fluid end is successfully traced with high accuracy. Furthermore, we could detect the change in curvature diameters of the fluid end depending on the flow direction by monitoring the visibility of the interference signal.

Particle focusing by 3D inertial microfluidics

Three-dimensional(3D)particle focusing in microfluidics is a fundamental capability with a wide range of applications,such as on-chip flow cytometry,where high-throughput analysis at the single-cell level is performed.Currently,3D focusing is achieved mainly in devices with complex layouts,additional sheath fluids,and complex pumping systems.In this work,we present a compact microfluidic device capable of 3D particle focusing at high flow rates and with a small footprint,without the requirement of external fields or lateral sheath flows,but using only a single-inlet,single-outlet microfluidic sequence of straight channels and tightly curving vertical loops.This device exploits inertial fluidic effects that occur in a laminar regime at sufficiently high flow rates,manipulating the particle positions by the combination of inertial lift forces and Dean drag forces.The device is fabricated by femtosecond laser irradiation followed by chemical etching,which is a simple two-step process enabling the creation of 3D microfluidic networks in fused silica glass substrates.The use of tightly curving three-dimensional microfluidic loops produces strong Dean drag forces along the whole loop but also induces an asymmetric Dean flow decay in the subsequent straight channel,thus producing rapid cross-sectional mixing flows that assist with 3D particle focusing.The use of out-of-plane loops favors a compact parallelization of multiple focusing channels,allowing one to process large amounts of samples.In addition,the low fluidic resistance of the channel network is compatible with vacuum driven flows.The resulting device is quite interesting for high-throughput on-chip flow cytometry.

EVA NEXUS-Phaco performance study

AIM:To investigate a novel phacoemulsification system“EVA NEXUS”(D.O.R.C.,Dutch Opthalmic Research Center)in comparison to the existing system“EVA”in clinical use.And to compare both phacoemulsification systems in terms of efficiency,safety and postoperative inflammatory activity.METHODS:In this study standardized cataract surgery was performed on both eyes of the study participant,using the“EVA system”(control group,n=20)on one eye and the“EVA NEXUS system”(intervention group,n=20)on the other eye.Only patients with cataract LOCS Grading 1-3 and no accompanying eye diseases were included in this study.A total of 20 patients were included in this study,with each treatment arm including 20 eyes.During surgery a 0.1 mL aqueous humor sample was collected 1min after phacoemulsification to measure the total prostaglanin E2 concentrations using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The endothelial cell count,visual and refractive outcomes,and anterior chamber flare were evaluated preoperatively,and 1d,1wk,and 3mo postoperatively.RESULTS:There were no statistically significant differences between both groups regarding intraoperative safety parameters including effective phacoemulsification time(P=0.904),balanced saline solution flow(P=0.701)and total surgery time(P=0.565).Postoperative prostaglandin E2 levels,anterior chamber flare as well as endothelial cell loss tended to be lower in the NEXUS-Group,however not being statistically significant(P=0.718;0.164;0.486).Both systems provided similar clinical outcomes,regarding best corrected visual acuity and refractive parameters,showing no statistically significant differences between both groups.CONCLUSION:Both systems show a high level of safety and efficency with similar results in terms of safety parameters including postoperative inflammatory activity and endothelial cell loss as well as visual and refractive outcomes.Although statistically not significant,the EVA NEXUS system tends to cause less postoperative inflammation with lower prostaglandin E2 levels and lower anterior chamber flare values.

Jet sweeping angle control by fluidic oscillators with master-slave designs

The fluidic oscillator is an instrument that can continuously generate a spatially sweeping jet entirely based on its internal geometry without any moving parts.However,the traditional fluidic oscillator has an inherent limitation,that is,the spreading angle cannot be controlled independently,rather by the jet volume flow rate and internal geometry.Accordingly,two types of fluidic oscillators based on the master-slave design are developed in current study to decouple this correlation.In both designs,the master layer inherits the similar oscillation mechanisms of a sweeping jet,and the slave layer resembles a steady jet channel.The difference between the two designs is that Design A has a short diverging exit in the slave layer,but Design B adds a long interaction chamber in the exit channel to intensify flow instability.The external flow fields and governing oscillation properties of these two designs are experimentally explored with time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV),while the internal flow dynamics and driving oscillation mechanisms are numerically investigated.By fixing the total volume flow rate,the jet spreading angle of Design A can be increased smoothly from 0°to above 100°by increasing the proportion of master layer’s flow rate from 0 to 100%.For Design B,the control authority of the master layer is significantly enhanced by adding the interaction chamber in the slave layer.In addition,the added chamber causes notable jet oscillation even when the master layer has none input.

双轴承旋转喷管型面设计及数值模拟研究

针对短距/垂直起降战斗机高机动飞行的迫切需求及其矢量喷管机械结构复杂笨重的问题,提出了基于轴对称双喉道气动矢量喷管设计的双轴承旋转喷管,通过采用双轴承结构和双喉道气动矢量喷管相结合的方式,减少驱动结构,使喷管能更高效、轻便地实现短距/垂直起降,并且赋予了飞行器平飞模态高机动飞行的潜力。基于典型轴对称双喉道气动矢量喷管构型,开展了双轴承旋转喷管的型面设计和运动规律研究,利用数值模拟开展关键设计参数对喷管流场的影响研究,获得喷管的性能变化规律。结果表明,短距/垂直起降模态下,典型构型的双轴承旋转喷管推力矢量角最大可达108°,满足短距/垂直起降飞行器对喷管的要求。凹腔段的长短轴比值对喷管短距/垂直起降模态的性能影响较大,相同落压比条件下,长短轴比值越大,喷管的总推力系数越低,推力矢量角越大,并且推力矢量角最大差值达到41°。本文所提出的双轴承旋转喷管可为未来具备短距/垂直起降、高机动性能的飞行器动力系统提供一种新的解决方案。

突变结构对π型管气流脉动的影响

世界能源发展呈现低碳趋势,人们对天然气的需求日益增加。输运管道中由于气流脉动遇到弯头、变径管等突变结构而形成的激振力是管道振动的主要成因。π型管是天然气管道中常见的柔性补偿结构,常与压缩机出口的管路相连,往复式压缩机工作时产生的气流脉动在π型管处诱发的流致振动较为明显。文章基于计算流体动力学对含有突变结构的π型管进行气流脉动仿真分析,研究脉动幅值与突变结构的关系。结果显示,含突变结构的管道出口处的压力不均匀度比π型管分别高了3.8%和4.6%左右,当突变结构的尺寸从100 mm变化到200 mm时,管道出口处的压力不均匀度也从15.5%左右变化到19.9%左右,可以看出突变结构对π型管内部的气流脉动呈现出不利影响,在实际工程应用中应尽量避免突变结构的使用。

Direct fabrication of a microfluidic chip for electrophoresis analysis by water-assisted femtosecond laser writing in porous glass

We report the direct fabrication of a microfluidic chip composed of two high-aspect ratio microfluidic channels with lengths of 3.5 cm and 8 mm in a glass substrate by femtosecond laser micromachining. The fabrication mainly consists of two steps： 1） writing microchannels and microchambers in a porous glass by scanning a tightly focused laser beam; 2） high-temperature annealing of the glass sample to collapse all the nanopores in the glass. Migration of derivatized amino acids is observed in the microfluidic channel by applying electric voltage across the long-migration microchannel.

SU8 etch mask for patterning PDMS and its application to flexible fluidic microactuators

Over the past few decades,polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)has become the material of choice for a variety of microsystem applications,including microfluidics,imprint lithography,and soft microrobotics.For most of these applications,PDMS is processed by replication molding;however,new applications would greatly benefit from the ability to pattern PDMS films using lithography and etching.Metal hardmasks,in conjunction with reactive ion etching(RIE),have been reported as a method for patterning PDMS;however,this approach suffers from a high surface roughness because of metal redeposition and limited etch thickness due to poor etch selectivity.We found that a combination of LOR and SU8 photoresists enables the patterning of thick PDMS layers by RIE without redeposition problems.We demonstrate the ability to etch 1.5-μm pillars in PDMS with a selectivity of 3.4.Furthermore,we use this process to lithographically process flexible fluidic microactuators without any manual transfer or cutting step.The actuator achieves a bidirectional rotation of 50°at a pressure of 200 kPa.This process provides a unique opportunity to scale down these actuators as well as other PDMS-based devices.

Continuous synthesis of extremely small-sized iron oxide nanoparticles used for T_(1)-weighted magnetic resonance imaging via a fluidic reactor

Extremely small-sized iron oxide nanoparticles(ESIONPs)with sizes less than 5 nm have shown great promise as T_(1)contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging(MRI).However,their facile and scalable production with simultaneously endowed biocompatible surface chemistry remains difficult to be realized.In this study,by using the coprecipitation method implemented in a specially designed gas/liquid mixed phase fluidic reactor,polyglucose sorbitol carboxymethyether(PSC)coated ESIONPs were continuously synthesized with controllable particle sizes ranging from 1.8 to 4 nm.Among the differently sized ESIONPs,the 3.7-nm ESIONPs exhibit the best performance as T_(1)MRI contrast agent,featuring a high r_(1) value of 4.11(mmol L^(−1))^(−1)s^(−1)and low r_(2)/r_(1) ratio of 7.90 under a clinical 3 T MR scanning,as well as the excellent T_(1)MRI contrast effect in not only water but also the cellular environment and blood vessel.Furthermore,the ESIONPs possess long-term stability and good dispersity in aqueous dispersions,making them ideal candidates as safe and effective T_(1)-weighted MRI contrast agent for real clinical use.