Electric microfluidic droplet dispenser

2017 
The present invention provides an electric microfluidic droplet dispenser. The dispenser prints liquid in a microfluidic chip into droplets with uniform volume based on a principle of microfluidic impact printing, and controls the loading volume by utilizing the number of times of printing, in other words, the number of droplets. A liquid is pre-injected into a replaceable microfluidic chip, and an electronic control system is used to set and control the number of printing droplets. With adoption of the electric microfluidic droplet dispenser of the invention, the volume of an individual droplet is smaller, typically is 0.1 nanoliter to 10 nanoliters, and a single droplet volume CV value is less than 3.4%. When sub-microliter volume loading is performed by multiple printing, the average effect further reduces the random error. The microfluidic chip is made of polymer materials, and thus is low in cost and replaceable. The microfluidic chip is isolated from an actuator, therefore cleaning is not needed and no cross-contamination exists. The remaining volume of a liquid is less than 1 microliter, therefore waste is less. A single-chip microcomputer is used to control the number of printing droplets, therefore automatic printing and liquid distribution are achieved; and the electric microfluidic droplet dispenser can extract a liquid as well as dispense a liquid, and thus is diversified in functions.
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