Object separating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11554377-B2
Application number	US-201816606869-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2018
Priority date	Jan 29, 2018
Publication date	Jan 17, 2023
Grant date	Jan 17, 2023

Abstract

An object separator may include a substrate, a fluid channel supported by the substrate, a pair of electrodes along the fluid channel to form a dielectrophoretic force to interact with an object entrained in a fluid and an inertial pump supported by the substrate to move the fluid along the fluid channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for separating an object in a fluid, the method comprising:
moving a fluid entraining a first object and a second object through a fluid channel during a first pass;
applying a first dielectrophoretic force to the first object within the fluid channel during the first pass to retain the first object within the fluid channel;
following the first pass, moving the fluid to a holding reservoir;
altering application of the first dielectrophoretic force to release the first object within the fluid channel;
ejecting the released first object from the fluid channel;
moving the fluid from the holding reservoir through the fluid channel during a second pass;
applying a second dielectrophoretic force to the second object during the second pass to retain the second object within the fluid channel;
following the second pass, altering application of the second dielectrophoretic force to release a second object within the fluid channel; and
ejecting the released second object from the fluid channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first dielectrophoretic force is different than the second dielectrophoretic force and wherein the first object is different than the second object.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is carried out using an object separator, wherein the object separator includes the fluid channel supported by a substrate.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising moving fluid along the fluid channel using an inertial pump supported by the substrate.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising heating the fluid using a thermal resistor associated with the inertial pump.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein applying the first dielectrophoretic force and altering application of the first dielectrophoretic force is carried out using a first pair of electrodes supported by the substrate.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein applying the second dielectrophoretic force and altering application of the second dielectrophoretic force is carried out using a second pair of electrodes supported by the substrate.

8. The method of claim 3 , further comprising moving the fluid along a recirculation passage supported by the substrate.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein moving the fluid along the recirculation passage is by a second inertial pump.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising heating the fluid using a second thermal resistor associated with the second inertial pump.

11. The method of claim 3 , further comprising sensing the first object, the second object, or both using an object sensor supported by the substrate.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising adjusting an operational parameter using a controller.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the controller controls an inertial pump to move the fluid along the fluid channel, a first pair of electrodes positioned along the fluid channel, a second pair of electrodes positioned along the fluid channel, or a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Shkolnikov Viktor
• Xin Daixi

Classifications

• B01L2400/0424

  Dielectrophoretic forces · CPC title

• B01L2200/0668

  Trapping microscopic beads · CPC title

• B01L2400/0481

  squeezing of channels or chambers · CPC title

• B01L3/502761

  specially adapted for handling suspended solids or molecules independently from the bulk fluid flow, e.g. for trapping or sorting beads or physically stretching molecules · CPC title

• G01F1/74

  Devices for measuring flow of a fluid or flow of a fluent solid material in suspension in another fluid · CPC title