Manipulating the size of liquid droplets in digital microfluidics

US8936708B2 · US · B2

Patent metadata
FieldValue
Publication numberUS-8936708-B2
Application numberUS-201313784168-A
CountryUS
Kind codeB2
Filing dateMar 4, 2013
Priority dateDec 17, 2008
Publication dateJan 20, 2015
Grant dateJan 20, 2015

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  1. Title

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  2. Abstract

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  4. Key dates

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  5. First independent claim

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Abstract

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Liquid droplet manipulation instrument has electrode array for inducing movement of a droplet by electrowetting, substrate supporting the array and control with electrode selector connected to a voltage control. The selector selects each electrode and provides each with a controlled voltage. The control includes central processing unit for providing the selected electrode with an individual voltage pulse which is a drive voltage or a ground voltage or a stop voltage. The control defines a path for movement of a liquid portion of a larger volume that covers more than one electrode by the simultaneous selection of a group of two or more subsequent drive electrodes and to provide each selected drive electrode with a drive voltage pulse along the path. The control simultaneously provides a group of two or more electrodes adjacent to or identical with the pulsed drive electrodes, with a ground or stop voltage pulse.

First claim

Opening claim text (preview).

What is claimed is: 1. A liquid droplet manipulation instrument ( 20 ), comprising: (a) at least one electrode array ( 21 ) for inducing a movement of a liquid droplet ( 19 ) by electrowetting; (b) a substrate ( 22 ) supporting the at least one electrode array ( 21 ); and (c) a control unit ( 23 ) comprising at least one electrode selector ( 34 ) connected with at least one voltage control ( 29 ), the at least one electrode selector ( 34 ) being accomplished to individually se…

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What does patent US8936708B2 cover?
Liquid droplet manipulation instrument has electrode array for inducing movement of a droplet by electrowetting, substrate supporting the array and control with electrode selector connected to a voltage control. The selector selects each electrode and provides each with a controlled voltage. The control includes central processing unit for providing the selected electrode with an individual vol…
Who is the assignee on this patent?
Tecan Trading Ag
What technology area does this patent fall under?
Primary CPC classification B01L3/502792. Mapped technology areas include Operations & Transport.
When was this patent published?
Publication date Tue Jan 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) (B2). Legal status and post-grant events are not shown on this page.
What related patents are in patentsdb?
We list 8 related publications on this page (citations in our corpus or others sharing the same primary CPC).