Acoustofluidic systems including acoustic wave generators for manipulating fluids, droplets, and micro/nano objects within a fluid suspension and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11577241-B2
Application number	US-201916700482-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2019
Priority date	Dec 3, 2018
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

Acoustofluidic systems including acoustic wave generators for manipulating fluids, droplets, and micro/nano objects within a fluid suspension and related methods are disclosed herein. According to an aspect, an acoustofluidic system includes a substrate including a substrate surface. The system also includes an acoustic wave generator configured to generate acoustic streaming within an acoustic wave region of the substrate surface. Further, the acoustic wave generator is controllable to change the acoustic streaming for movement of a droplet or other micro/nano object on a fluid suspension about the acoustic wave region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An acoustofluidic system comprising:
a substrate including a substrate surface;
a plurality of first acoustic wave generators configured to generate acoustic streaming within acoustic wave regions of the substrate surface for movement of one or more droplets or micro/nano objects along a first direction;
a plurality of second acoustic wave generators configured to generate acoustic streaming within acoustic wave regions of the substrate surface for movement of the one or more droplets or micro/nano objects along a second direction, different than the first direction; and
a controller configured to input different amplitudes, frequencies, or phases into the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators to generate acoustic streaming.

2. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators are made of LiNbO 3 or another piezoelectric material.

3. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more droplets or micro/nano objects move on a fluid suspension that is immiscible to the droplet or micro/nano object.

4. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators are one of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) generator, a standing surface acoustic wave (SSAW) generator, and a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) generator.

5. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more droplets or micro/nano objects move on a fluid suspension comprises fluorinated oil.

6. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators are each controllable for holding the droplet or other micro/nano object at approximately a respective predetermined position within the acoustic wave regions.

7. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the controller configured to input electrical signals into the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators in accordance with a predetermined control sequence for controlling movement of the droplet or other micro/nano object.

8. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic wave regions comprise a first acoustic wave region and a second acoustic wave region,
wherein the acoustic wave generator is configured to generate acoustic streaming within the second acoustic wave region of the substrate surface,
wherein the controller is configured to control the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators for movement of the droplet or other micro/nano objects between the first acoustic wave region and the second acoustic wave region.

9. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the input of the different frequencies, phases, or powers thereby generates vortices in the acoustic stream.

10. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators are configured to input the different frequencies, phases, or powers to implement a gating function for the droplet or other micro/nano objects.

11. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators are configured to input reverse the frequency-shifting sequence of the different frequencies to change movement of the droplet or other micro/nano objects.

12. An acoustofluidic system comprising:
a substrate including a substrate surface;
a plurality of first acoustic wave generators configured to generate acoustic streaming within acoustic wave regions of the substrate surface for movement of one or more droplets or micro/nano objects along a first direction;
a plurality of second acoustic wave generators configured to generate acoustic streaming within acoustic wave regions of the substrate surface for movement of the one or more droplets or micro/nano objects along a second direction, different than the first direction; and
a controller configured to controllably input a first excitation amplitude or a second excitation amplitude into each of the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators to move the one or more droplets or other micro/nano objects in either the first direction or the second direction.

13. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , further comprising a temperature-control system configured to maintain constant temperature during acoustic manipulation.

14. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the device is sterilized.

15. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the device is manufactured with a process selected from the group consisting of photolithography, injection molding, chemical etching, CNC machining, laser cutting, vacuum molding, other mass-production methods, and combinations thereof.

16. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , further comprising an acoustic matching layer positioned between the to-be-manipulated object and the transducer.

17. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , further comprising a base system operably connected to the transducer, the base system being arranged and disposed to adjust at least one property selected from the group consisting of electrical driving power provided from the base system to the transducer, driving frequency of the sound waves provided by the transducer, phase of the sound waves provided by the transducer, a shape of the sound waves provided by the transducer, and combinations thereof.

18. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , further comprising an electrical matching circuit, the electrical matching circuit being arranged and disposed to suppress frequencies outside of a bandwidth used by the transducer to generate the sound waves.

19. The acoustofluidic system of claim 1 , wherein the transducer is driven by at least one of a pulse-width-modulation and a square wave drive.

20. An acoustofluidic system comprising:
a plurality of first acoustofluidic wave generators configured to generate acoustic streaming within acoustic wave regions for movement of one or more droplets or micro/nano objects along a first direction;
a plurality of second acoustic wave generators configured to generate acoustic streaming within acoustic wave regions of the substrate surface for movement of the one or more droplets or micro/nano objects along a second direction, different than the first direction;
a structural feature having a shape to manipulate movement of a droplet or other micro/nano object; and
a controller configured to control the plurality of first acoustic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators to move the droplet or other micro/nano object towards the structural feature to manipulate movement of the droplet or other micro/nano object.

21. The acoustofluidic system of claim 20 , wherein the structural feature is a nozzle.

22. The acoustofluidic system of claim 20 , further comprising a container for holding the droplet or other micro/nano object, and
wherein the plurality of first acoustofluidic wave generators and the plurality of second acoustic wave generators move the droplet or other micro/nano object from the container to an interior of the nozzle and through an end of the nozzle when activated.

Assignees

• Univ Duke

Inventors

• Huang Tony Jun
• Zhang Peiran

Classifications

• G01N29/222 Primary

  Constructional or flow details for analysing fluids (optoacoustic fluid cells G01N29/2425) · CPC title

• B01L2400/0436

  acoustic forces, e.g. surface acoustic waves [SAW] · CPC title

• B01F33/3021

  the components to be mixed being combined in a single independent droplet, e.g. these droplets being divided by a non-miscible fluid or consisting of independent droplets · CPC title

• B01F31/87

  transmitting the vibratory energy by means of a fluid, e.g. by means of air shock waves · CPC title

• B01L2300/0822

  Slides · CPC title