Dimensioning and characterisation of an EWOD-driven chipintegrated micropump using time-resolved simulations

Inhalt:
In this work, methods for the theoretical description of a novel micropump driven by Electrowetting-On-Dielectrics (short EWOD) are presented. This pump has the special property of operating completely without moving components by the use of efficient passive Tesla valves in combination with the EWOD effect. However, the modelling and dimensioning of the micropump is a major challenge due to the coupling of electrodynamics with hydrodynamics. Therefore efficient simulation methods are required for modelling the micropump. In this paper, two methods for the time-resolved simulation of the entire system are presented. In addition to the direct simulation method using COMSOL Multiphysics(r), a simplified method based on a fluidic equivalent circuit diagram is introduced. The predictions of the two simulation methods are compared and important parameters for an efficient pump design are identified.