Abstract
Instead of using valves, switches, or any other active components, passive droplet routing only exploits the hydrodynamic effect that a droplet always enters the channel with the highest instantaneous volumetric flow rate. By exploiting this mechanism, entirely passive microfluidic networks can be designed, which allow to control a droplet to flow through an intended path through a microfluidic network. This supports the execution of multiple different experiments on the same device and, hence, increase the device’s flexibility, effectiveness, as well as reusability. But despite these promises, passive droplet routing requires dedicated design methods, which are proposed in this part of the book. To provide a basis for that, this chapter reviews the underlying physics of passive droplet routing. Therefore, the 1D analysis model is used to describe the passive droplet routing at bifurcations.
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Grimmer, A., Wille, R. (2020). Passive Droplet Routing. In: Designing Droplet Microfluidic Networks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20713-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20713-7_6
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