A Fluid Handling and Injection Microsystem for a µTAS

Abstract

A fluid handling and injection system for a micro total chemical analysis system (µTAS) for monitoring water conditions is presented in this paper. In general a µTAS is obtained by the integration of the following components: a) a fluid handling and injection system; b) a selective sensor to detect and measure the concentration of chemical species; c) an electronic unit to control pumps, valves and sensors. The fluid injection system described in this paper has been designed and realized in order to obtain optimal hydraulic behaviour, to simplify fabrication and to achieve good reliability. A basic configuration of the proposed µTAS comprises: micropumps, active microvalves, flow channels and conduits for reactors. The above components can be combined so as to obtain different configurations intended for sophisticated analysis processes.