Effects of gravity on the shape of liquid droplets

We report the gravity effects on the shape and focal length changes of liquid droplets. As the droplet size decreases, the gravity effect is gradually weakened. Moreover, if the outside space of the droplet is filled with another immiscible liquid rather than air, the filled liquid helps to offset the gravity effect even though their densities do not match well. Good agreement between experiment and simulation is obtained. The negligible gravity effect enables us to improve the optical performances of the liquid lens by choosing suitable liquids without worrying their density mismatch.     

Heating analysis of a droplet on stretchable hydrophilic surface

Heating of a droplet on a stretchable hydrophilic surface is investigated and fluid dynamics in the droplet under the heating load is assessed. Elastomer wafers are considered as the sample material and the fixture is designed and manufactured to assure uniform stretching of the droplet located elastomer surface. Droplet adhesion and possible slipping/sliding of the droplet are evaluated during stretching of the sample surface. Numerical simulations are carried out to predict thermal and flow response of the droplet fluid before and after stretching. The effect of droplet volume on heating enhancement is also included in the numerical simulations. Experiments are carried out using a high-speed recording system towards comparing the flow predictions. Findings reveal that predictions are in agreement with their counterparts of experiments. Stretching of sample surface increases wetting area and lowers height of the droplet while influencing thermal flow structures in the fluid. The Nusselt and the Bond numbers increase with enlarging stretching, which becomes more visible for large droplet volume (80 µl). Hence, stretching corresponding to 80% extension of elastomer surface gives rise to 60% improvement in the Nusselt number.     

A droplet transport model for channel and pipe flow based on particle kinetic theory and a stress–ω turbulence model

A model for droplet transport in turbulent gas–liquid flow in horizontal channels or pipes is developed. We invoke the kinetic theory of Reeks and co-workers for inertial particles, and the Reynolds stress–ω model of Wilcox for the gas turbulence. We introduce a suitable turbulence boundary condition at the gas–liquid interface. The full kinetic model is compared to experimental data using high density SF₆ gas and Exxsol oil, and the model gives a good prediction of the droplet distribution.     

液滴微流控系统在数字聚合酶链式反应中的应用研究进展

数字聚合酶链式反应( PCR)技术近年来发展迅速。与以实时荧光定量PCR为代表的传统PCR技术相比,数字PCR技术显著提高了定量分析的精确度和灵敏度。数字PCR的快速发展与近年来微流控技术在数字PCR技术中的广泛应用有着密切的联系。早期的研究和商业化产品使用的是大规模集成流路微流控芯片,加工过程复杂且价格高昂。近年来,液滴微流控芯片被应用到数字PCR技术中,它可以在短时间内产生102~107个微液滴,每一个微液滴都是最多只含有一个目的基因片段的PCR反应器。 PCR扩增后,通过对单个微液滴的观察计数,就可以获得绝对定量的分析数据。本文综述了不同种类的液滴微流控系统在数字PCR技术中的应用,以及液滴数字PCR微流控芯片在生物、医药、环境等领域的应用。     

液滴微流控技术在生物医学中的应用进展

液滴微流控是微流控芯片领域的一个重要分支,由于其诸多独特优势而得到了广泛的应用与研究.本文将概述液滴微流控的特点和基本原理,同时对近年来其在生物医学中的应用进行了简要综述,并展望了液滴微流控技术的发展前景.     

Flexible particle flow‐focusing in microchannel driven by droplet‐directed induced‐charge electroosmosis

We report herein a novel microfluidic particle concentrator that utilizes constriction microchannels to enhance the flow‐focusing performance of induced‐charge electroosmosis (ICEO), where viscous hemi‐spherical oil droplets are embedded within the mainchannel to form deformable converging‐diverging constriction structures. The constriction region between symmetric oil droplets partially coated on the electrode strips can improve the focusing performance by inducing a granular wake flow area at the diverging channel, which makes almost all of the scattered sample particles trapped within a narrow stream on the floating electrode. Another asymmetric droplet pair arranged near the outlets can further direct the trajectory of focused particle stream to one specified outlet port depending on the symmetry breaking in the shape of opposing phase interfaces. By fully exploiting rectification properties of induced‐charge electrokinetic phenomena at immiscible water/oil interfaces of tunable geometry, the expected function of continuous and switchable flow‐focusing is demonstrated by preconcentrating both inorganic silica particles and biological yeast cells. Physical mechanisms responsible for particle focusing and locus deflection in the droplet‐assisted concentrentor are analyzed in detail, and simulation results are in good accordance with experimental observations. Our work provides new routes to construct flexible electrokinetic framework for preprocessing on‐chip biological samples before performing subsequent analysis.     

Flow and atomization characteristics of a twin-fluid nozzle with internal swirling and self-priming effects

A twin-fluid nozzle was proposed for low-pressure atomization. The nozzle is featured by swirling air flows in the mixing chamber. Liquid medium is thereby inhaled due to the pressure difference. An experimental work was performed to investigate the atomization performance of the nozzle and the hydrogen peroxide solution served as the liquid medium. Droplet size and droplet velocity were measured. Effects of the diameter of the air-injection orifice and the air-injection pressure were investigated. The results show that small droplet size is achieved with the proposed nozzle. As the spray develops, Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the droplets decreases first and then increases, irrespective of the variation of the air-injection orifice diameter and the air-injection pressure. Overall SMD varies inversely with the air-injection orifice diameter and air-injection pressure. Near the nozzle, cross-sectional velocity distribution exhibits a peak-valley pattern, which is replaced with uniformized velocity distributions away from the nozzle. Similarity of cross-sectional radial velocity distribution at different air pressures is evidenced. Furthermore, the correlation between droplet size and droplet velocity is established.     

Pumpless dispensing of a droplet by breaking up a liquid bridge formed by electric induction

Dispensing uniform pico‐to‐nanoliter droplets has become one of essential components in various application fields from high‐throughput bio‐analysis to printing. In this study, a new method is suggested and demonstrated for dispensing a droplet on the top plate with an inverted geometry by using electric field. The process of dispensing droplets consists of two stages: (i) formation of liquid bridge by moving up the charged fluid mass using the electrostatic force between the charges on the fluid mass and the induced charges on the substrate and (ii) its break‐up by the motion of the top plate. Different from conventional electrohydrodynamic methods, electric induction enables the droplets to be dispensed on various surfaces including non‐conducting substrate. The use of capillarity with an inverted geometry removes the need of external pumps or elaborates control for constant flow feed. The droplet diameter has been characterized as a function of the nozzle‐to‐plate distance and the plate moving velocity. The robustness of the present method is shown in terms of nozzle length and applied voltage. Finally, its practical applicability is confirmed by rendering a 19 by 24 array of highly uniform droplets with only 1.8% size variation without use of any active feedback control.     

Effect of packing on the cluster nature of C nanotubes: An information entropy analysis

The possibility of the existence of single−wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in organic solvents in the form of clusters is discussed. A theory is developed based on a bundlet model for clusters, which enables describing the distribution function of clusters by size. Comparison of the calculated values of solubility with experiments would permit obtaining energetic parameters characterizing the interaction of an SWNT with its surrounding, in a solid or solution. Fullerenes and SWNTs are unique objects, whose behaviour in many physical situations is characterized by remarkable peculiarities. Peculiarities in solutions show up first in that fullerenes and SWNTs represent the only soluble forms of carbon, what is related to the originality in the molecular structure of fullerenes and SWNTs. The fullerene molecule is a virtually uniform closed spherical or spheroidal surface, and an SWNT is a smooth cylindrical unit. Both structures give rise to the relatively weak interaction between the neighbouring molecules in a crystal and promote interaction of the molecules with those of a solvent. Another peculiarity in solutions is related to their trend to form clusters, consisting of a number of fullerene molecules or SWNTs. The energy of interaction of a fullerene molecule or SWNT with solvent molecules is proportional to the surface of the former molecule and roughly independent of the orientation of solvent molecules. All these phenomena have a unified explanation in the framework of the bundlet model of a cluster, in accordance with which the free energy of an SWNT involved in a cluster is combined from two components, viz. a volume one proportional to the number of molecules n in a cluster, and a surface one proportional to n^1/2. Algorithms for classification are proposed based on the criteria information entropy and its production. Many classification algorithms are based on information entropy. When applying these procedures to sets of moderate size, an excessive number of results appear compatible with data, and this number suffers a combinatorial explosion. However, after the equipartition conjecture, one has a selection criterion between different variants resulting from classification between hierarchical trees. According to this conjecture, for a given charge or duty, the best configuration of a flowsheet is the one in which the entropy production is most uniformly distributed. Information entropy, cluster and principal component analyses agree.     

Modelling and simulation of sprays in laminar flames

In the present paper we model and numerically simulate steady, laminar, premixed spray flames. The gasphase is described in Eulerian form by the equations governing the conservation of overall mass, momentum, energy and species mass. The liquid phase is described in Lagrangian form by the overall continuity equation, which reduces to an equation for the droplet size, the equations of motion, the energy equation and a droplet density function transport equation. The latter is the so-called spray equation, which, at any position in the chemically reacting flowfield, describes the joint distribution of droplet size, droplet velocity and droplet temperature. Herein the spray equation is solved using a Monte Carlo method. Detailed models of the exchange of mass, momentum and energy between the gaseous and the liquid phase are taken into account. The results presented in this paper are for an octane-air flame, where small amounts of liquid octane in form of a liquid spray are added to a fresh, unburnt gaseous octane-air mixture.Presented at Euromech Colloquium 324: The Combustion of Drops, Sprays and Aerosols, 25th–27th July 1994, Marseilles, France.