Combining FEM and GA for Small PCR Temperature Unit Thermal Cladding Thickness Optimization

• Main Authors: Yang, Ruining, Li, Jianxing, Lei, Nuolan, Lan, Xiaofei, Ma, Ying, Luo, Kan
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: coating thickness; Coatings; Finite element analysis; finite element method; genetic algorithm; Manufacturing; Mathematical models; Miniaturized PCR; Temperature; Temperature control; Transient analysis
• ISSN: 2688-0938
• DOI: 10.1109/CAC53003.2021.9727389

Accurate, fast and uniform of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instrument control temperature are the key factors for high-efficiency DNA amplification. Although thermal cladding of a temperature unit can improve the stability of temperature control, the improper material thickness will also introduce negative influence, such as large dynamic error, slow respond. It is still a challenging of thermal coating thickness design in a miniaturized PCR instrument. Here, we propose a new coating thickness calculation method, which combines the finite-element method (FEM) and the genetic algorithm (GA) to pursuit the optimal coating thickness. Firstly, the temperature related units, which include a base, a heat dissipation, and a thermal cover, were modeled; Sequentially, to obtain the temperature field transient solution, the rules of heat transfer conditions were established; Furthermore, coating thickness, steady- and transient-state temperature fields are obtained through a GA optimization with temperature parameter constrained. In the numerical simulation experiments, the proposed method is verified by using a 16 holes, 40*40mm, aluminum PCR base. The results indicate that the optimal coating thickness is 19mm; the transient temperature control error is lower than ±0.15°C; and the uniformity of the base surface is lower than ±0.1 °C. The proposed method has significance for using in FEM-based manufacturing parameter or control parameter calculation.