Pressure-Driven Microfluidic Networks

Pressure-Driven Microfluidic Networks

Name

Institution

Date

The article focuses on designing pressure-driven microfluidic networks using electric circuit analogy. The opening statement is the definition of microfluidics and instead of “microfluidics deals with precise manipulation of small volumes of fluid”, article ‘the’ should have been included to read as “microfluidics deals with the precise manipulation of small volumes of fluid”. Even as microfluidics deals with very precise fluid control elaboration on how the microfluidic devices work, would have provided more clarity on microfluidics. The transport of fluids throughout the network is driven by pressure, electric fields, or a combination of these two, but the equations failed to show how optimal solutions in electrical circuits can be translated to the microfluidic networks.

Approaches to microfluidic design highlight similarities in the hydraulics and electric circuits to better understand fluid mechanics. This is possible when the flow is laminar, incompressible and viscous, but the article needed to expand on how the simulation of the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) in micro fluidic channels is based on the electric-circuit analogy. In the flow paths and he flow fraction diagram there was no indication on how the slow flow stream affects performance, and different from the electric circuit since electricity is mostly fast flow. As such, the design specifications needed to indicate the slow-flow section or compartment and the fast-flow channel. ...