A novel thermal sensor to monitor the gas-liquid phase interface in microfluidic channels

We designed and fabricated a novel microscale sensor for monitoring the motion of the gas-liquid interface in microchannels, based on the 3omega thermal-analysis method. As the sensor employs an AC hot-film technique to probe the movement of phase interface, it is more sensitive and noise-resistant...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sun Rock Choi, Jonggan Hong, Joonwon Kim, Dongsik Kim
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Glass
Microchannel
Microfluidics
Monitoring
Optical noise
Phase noise
Probes
Sensor phenomena and characterization
Thermal sensors
Thin film sensors
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We designed and fabricated a novel microscale sensor for monitoring the motion of the gas-liquid interface in microchannels, based on the 3omega thermal-analysis method. As the sensor employs an AC hot-film technique to probe the movement of phase interface, it is more sensitive and noise-resistant than the already developed DC technique. The sensor is composed of a thin-film heater integrated into a PDMS microchannel fabricated on a glass substrate. The performance of the sensor is characterized by examining water injection and liquid evaporation processes. The results show good agreement with those by optical inspection. It is also demonstrated that the sensor can effectively monitor the long-term evaporation process of water in a microchannel. The result demonstrates strong potential of the proposed sensor as an integrated real-time probe to monitor a variety of microfluidic phenomena.
ISSN:1930-0395
2168-9229
DOI:10.1109/ICSENS.2008.4716618