阅读说明：本技术 数字微流控制芯片及其故障检测方法 (Digital micro-flow control chip and fault detection method thereof ) 是由 高涌佳 赵莹莹 廖辉 古乐 姚文亮 樊博麟 李月 于 2020-05-15 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请公开了一种数字微流控制芯片及其故障检测方法,涉及故障检测技术领域。该数字微流控制芯片中的驱动电路可以为多个第二电极中待检测的目标第二电极提供驱动信号,阻抗检测电路可以用于检测多个第二电极中每个第二电极与第一电极之间的阻抗,并将得到的多个阻抗发送至控制器,控制器可以根据检测到的多个阻抗确定目标第二电极是否存在故障,由于无需使液滴沿预设路径遍历多个第二电极,因此有效提高了故障检测的效率。(The application discloses a digital micro-flow control chip and a fault detection method thereof, and relates to the technical field of fault detection. The driving circuit in the digital micro-flow control chip can provide driving signals for target second electrodes to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes, the impedance detection circuit can be used for detecting the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes and sending the obtained plurality of impedances to the controller, and the controller can determine whether the target second electrodes have faults or not according to the detected plurality of impedances.)

1. A digital microflow control chip, said digital microflow control chip comprising: the device comprises a controller, a driving circuit, an impedance detection circuit, a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes, wherein the first electrode and the plurality of second electrodes are oppositely arranged, and the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located;

the driving circuit is connected with the plurality of second electrodes and is used for providing driving signals for target second electrodes to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes so as to drive liquid drops injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrodes are located;

the impedance detection circuit is respectively connected with the controller and the plurality of second electrodes, and is used for detecting the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes and sending the obtained plurality of impedances to the controller;

the controller is configured to: if it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within a first impedance range and the impedances between the other second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes are within a second impedance range, determining that the target second electrode is not in fault; if the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is not detected to be in the first impedance range, or the impedances between the other second electrodes and the first electrode are not detected to be in the second impedance range, determining that the target second electrode has a fault;

wherein there is no intersection of the first impedance range and the second impedance range.

2. A digital microflow control chip, said digital microflow control chip comprising: the device comprises a controller, a driving circuit, an impedance detection circuit, a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes, wherein the first electrode and the plurality of second electrodes are oppositely arranged, and the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located;

the driving circuit is connected with the plurality of second electrodes and is used for providing driving signals for target second electrodes to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes so as to drive liquid drops injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrodes are located;

the impedance detection circuit is respectively connected with the controller and the plurality of second electrodes, and is used for detecting the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes and sending the obtained plurality of impedances to the controller;

the controller is configured to: determining a location of the drop based on the plurality of impedances; if the position of the liquid drop is located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has no fault; and if the position of the liquid drop is not located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

3. The digital micro-flow control chip of claim 2, wherein the controller is further configured to:

determining at least one candidate electrode from the plurality of second electrodes based on the plurality of impedances, wherein the impedance between each candidate electrode and the first electrode is within a third impedance range;

if one alternative electrode is determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the position of the alternative electrode as the position of the liquid drop;

if two alternative electrodes are determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the position of the liquid drop according to the ratio of the impedance between the two alternative electrodes and the first electrode and the positions of the two alternative electrodes.

4. The digital micro-flow control chip according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the controller is further connected to the driving circuit;

the controller is further configured to: sending a control signal to the drive circuit and a detection signal to the impedance detection circuit;

the driving circuit is used for providing a driving signal to the target second electrode according to the control signal so as to drive the liquid drops injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located;

the impedance detection circuit is configured to detect an impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode according to the detection signal.

5. The digital micro-flow control chip of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to:

after the control signal is sent to the driving circuit, sending the detection signal to the impedance detection circuit;

wherein a time difference between a time when the controller transmits the control signal and a time when the controller transmits the detection signal is within a time difference threshold range.

6. The digital micro-flow control chip of claim 4, wherein the driving circuit comprises: a plurality of switch sub-circuits; the control end of each switch sub-circuit is connected with the controller, the input end of each switch sub-circuit is connected with a driving signal source, the output end of each switch sub-circuit is connected with one second electrode, and the second electrodes connected with the output ends of different switch sub-circuits are different;

the controller is configured to: providing a first control signal to a target switch sub-circuit connected to the target second electrode and providing a second control signal to other switch sub-circuits than the target switch sub-circuit;

the target switch sub-circuit is used for responding to the first control signal and controlling the input end and the output end of the target switch sub-circuit to be conducted so as to provide a driving signal from the driving signal source for the target second electrode;

and the other switch sub-circuit is used for responding to the second control signal and controlling the input end and the output end of the other switch sub-circuit to be disconnected.

7. The digital micro-flow control chip according to any of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a register coupled to the controller;

the controller is configured to: sending the identification of each second electrode and state information to the register, wherein the state information is used for indicating whether the driving circuit provides a driving signal for the second electrode;

the register is used for recording the corresponding relation between the identification and the state information of each second electrode;

the controller is further configured to: and reading the corresponding relation from the register, and determining the second electrode provided with the driving signal by the driving circuit in the plurality of second electrodes as the target second electrode according to the corresponding relation.

8. A fault detection method is applied to a digital micro-flow control chip, and the digital micro-flow control chip further comprises the following steps: the device comprises a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes which are oppositely arranged, wherein the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located; the method comprises the following steps:

driving the liquid drops injected into the digital microfluidic chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located in the plurality of second electrodes;

determining an impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode, resulting in a plurality of impedances;

if it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within a first impedance range and the impedances between the other second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes are within a second impedance range, determining that the target second electrode is not in fault;

determining that the target second electrode has a fault if it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is not within a first impedance range or the impedances between the other second electrodes of the plurality of second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode are not within a second impedance range;

wherein there is no intersection of the first impedance range and the second impedance range.

9. A fault detection method is applied to a digital micro-flow control chip, and the digital micro-flow control chip further comprises the following steps: the device comprises a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes which are oppositely arranged, wherein the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located; the method comprises the following steps:

driving the liquid drops injected into the digital microfluidic chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located in the plurality of second electrodes;

determining an impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode, resulting in a plurality of impedances;

determining a location of the drop based on the plurality of impedances;

if the position of the liquid drop is located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has no fault;

and if the position of the liquid drop is not located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the location of the drop based on the plurality of impedances comprises:

determining at least one alternative electrode from the plurality of second electrodes based on the plurality of impedances, wherein the impedance between each alternative electrode and the first electrode is in a third impedance range;

if one alternative electrode is determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the center position of the alternative electrode as the center position of the liquid drop;

if two alternative electrodes are determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the central position of the liquid drop according to the ratio of the impedance between the two alternative electrodes and the first electrode and the central positions of the two alternative electrodes;

wherein an upper limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to an upper limit of the second impedance range and less than or equal to a lower limit of the second impedance range, and a lower limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to an upper limit of the first impedance range and less than or equal to a lower limit of the first impedance range.

11. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the fault detection method of any one of claims 8 to 10.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of fault detection technologies, and in particular, to a digital micro-flow control chip and a fault detection method thereof.

Background

The digital micro-flow control chip can control the movement of the liquid drop injected into the digital micro-flow control chip through electric field force, thermal force or electrostatic force, etc. to realize the preparation, reaction, separation or detection of the sample.

In the related art, the digital microfluidic chip includes a control assembly, an upper electrode, and a plurality of lower electrodes, and the control assembly can control the movement of the droplet by controlling the power on or off of each of the lower electrodes. When the lower electrode in the digital micro-flow control chip is subjected to fault detection, the control component can control the liquid drop to move along a preset path so as to traverse the plurality of lower electrodes. If the liquid drop can traverse the plurality of lower electrodes along the preset path, the lower electrodes in the digital micro-flow control chip can be determined to be fault-free. If the liquid drop can not traverse the plurality of electrodes along the preset path, the lower electrode in the digital micro-flow control chip can be determined to have a fault.

However, when the number of lower electrodes is large, the detection efficiency of the failure detection method in the related art is low.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a digital micro-flow control chip and a fault detection method thereof, which can solve the problem of low detection efficiency in the related technology. The technical scheme is as follows:

in one aspect, a digital micro-flow control chip is provided, the digital micro-flow control chip comprising: the device comprises a controller, a driving circuit, an impedance detection circuit, a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes, wherein the first electrode and the plurality of second electrodes are oppositely arranged, and the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located;

the driving circuit is connected with the plurality of second electrodes and is used for providing driving signals for target second electrodes to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes so as to drive liquid drops injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrodes are located;

the impedance detection circuit is respectively connected with the controller and the plurality of second electrodes, and is used for detecting the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes and sending the obtained plurality of impedances to the controller;

the controller is configured to: if it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within a first impedance range and the impedances between the other second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes are within a second impedance range, determining that the target second electrode is not in fault; if the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is not detected to be in the first impedance range, or the impedances between the other second electrodes and the first electrode are not detected to be in the second impedance range, determining that the target second electrode has a fault;

wherein there is no intersection of the first impedance range and the second impedance range.

In another aspect, a digital micro-flow control chip is provided, the digital micro-flow control chip comprising: the device comprises a controller, a driving circuit, an impedance detection circuit, a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes, wherein the first electrode and the plurality of second electrodes are oppositely arranged, and the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located;

the driving circuit is connected with the plurality of second electrodes and is used for providing driving signals for target second electrodes to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes so as to drive liquid drops injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrodes are located;

the impedance detection circuit is respectively connected with the controller and the plurality of second electrodes, and is used for detecting the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes and sending the obtained plurality of impedances to the controller;

the controller is configured to: determining a location of the drop based on the plurality of impedances; if the position of the liquid drop is located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has no fault; and if the position of the liquid drop is not located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

Optionally, the controller is further configured to:

determining at least one candidate electrode from the plurality of second electrodes based on the plurality of impedances, wherein the impedance between each candidate electrode and the first electrode is within a third impedance range;

if one alternative electrode is determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the position of the alternative electrode as the position of the liquid drop;

if two alternative electrodes are determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the position of the liquid drop according to the ratio of the impedance between the two alternative electrodes and the first electrode and the positions of the two alternative electrodes.

Optionally, the controller is further connected to the driving circuit;

the controller is further configured to: sending a control signal to the drive circuit and a detection signal to the impedance detection circuit;

the driving circuit is used for providing a driving signal to the target second electrode according to the control signal so as to drive the liquid drops injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located;

the impedance detection circuit is configured to detect an impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode according to the detection signal.

Optionally, the controller is configured to:

after the control signal is sent to the driving circuit, sending the detection signal to the impedance detection circuit;

wherein a time difference between a time when the controller transmits the control signal and a time when the controller transmits the detection signal is within a time difference threshold range.

Optionally, the driving circuit includes: a plurality of switch sub-circuits; the control end of each switch sub-circuit is connected with the controller, the input end of each switch sub-circuit is connected with a driving signal source, the output end of each switch sub-circuit is connected with one second electrode, and the second electrodes connected with the output ends of different switch sub-circuits are different;

the controller is configured to: providing a first control signal to a target switch sub-circuit connected to the target second electrode and providing a second control signal to other switch sub-circuits than the target switch sub-circuit;

the target switch sub-circuit is used for responding to the first control signal and controlling the input end and the output end of the target switch sub-circuit to be conducted so as to provide a driving signal from the driving signal source for the target second electrode;

and the other switch sub-circuit is used for responding to the second control signal and controlling the input end and the output end of the other switch sub-circuit to be disconnected.

Optionally, the digital micro-flow control chip further includes: a register coupled to the controller;

the controller is configured to: sending the identification of each second electrode and state information to the register, wherein the state information is used for indicating whether the driving circuit provides a driving signal for the second electrode;

the register is used for recording the corresponding relation between the identification and the state information of each second electrode;

the controller is further configured to: and reading the corresponding relation from the register, and determining the second electrode provided with the driving signal by the driving circuit in the plurality of second electrodes as the target second electrode according to the corresponding relation.

In another aspect, a fault detection method is provided, which is applied to a digital micro-flow control chip, where the digital micro-flow control chip further includes: the device comprises a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes which are oppositely arranged, wherein the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located; the method comprises the following steps:

driving the liquid drops injected into the digital microfluidic chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located in the plurality of second electrodes;

determining an impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode, resulting in a plurality of impedances;

if it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within a first impedance range and the impedances between the other second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes are within a second impedance range, determining that the target second electrode is not in fault;

determining that the target second electrode has a fault if it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is not within a first impedance range or the impedances between the other second electrodes of the plurality of second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode are not within a second impedance range;

wherein there is no intersection of the first impedance range and the second impedance range.

In another aspect, a fault detection method is provided, which is applied to a digital micro-flow control chip, where the digital micro-flow control chip further includes: the device comprises a first electrode and a plurality of second electrodes which are oppositely arranged, wherein the orthographic projection of each second electrode on the plane where the first electrode is located in the area where the first electrode is located; the method comprises the following steps:

driving the liquid drops injected into the digital microfluidic chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located in the plurality of second electrodes;

determining an impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode, resulting in a plurality of impedances;

determining a location of the drop based on the plurality of impedances;

if the position of the liquid drop is located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has no fault;

and if the position of the liquid drop is not located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

Optionally, the determining the position of the droplet based on the plurality of impedances includes:

determining at least one alternative electrode from the plurality of second electrodes based on the plurality of impedances, wherein the impedance between each alternative electrode and the first electrode is in a third impedance range;

if one alternative electrode is determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the center position of the alternative electrode as the center position of the liquid drop;

if two alternative electrodes are determined from the plurality of second electrodes, determining the central position of the liquid drop according to the ratio of the impedance between the two alternative electrodes and the first electrode and the central positions of the two alternative electrodes;

wherein an upper limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to an upper limit of the second impedance range and less than or equal to a lower limit of the second impedance range, and a lower limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to an upper limit of the first impedance range and less than or equal to a lower limit of the first impedance range.

In yet another aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, having instructions stored therein, which when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the fault detection method according to the above aspect.

The beneficial effect that technical scheme that this application provided brought includes at least:

the embodiment of the application provides a digital micro-flow control chip and a fault detection method thereof, a driving circuit in the digital micro-flow control chip can provide a driving signal for a target second electrode to be detected in a plurality of second electrodes, an impedance detection circuit can be used for detecting the impedance between each second electrode and a first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes and sending the obtained plurality of impedances to a controller, the controller can determine whether the target second electrode has a fault according to the detected plurality of impedances, and because liquid drops do not need to traverse the plurality of second electrodes along a preset path, the fault detection efficiency is effectively improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a digital micro-flow control chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a first electrode and a second electrode provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of another first electrode and second electrode provided in embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of yet another first electrode and second electrode provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of yet another first electrode and second electrode provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of a fault detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of another method for fault detection provided by embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of yet another method for fault detection provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a flowchart of still another fault detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The microfluidic technology is a technology for accurately controlling and controlling microscale fluid, and can integrate basic operations of sample preparation, reaction, separation, detection and the like in biochemical experiments on a microscale chip. In a conventional microfluidic chip, a pump or a valve or other micro-mechanical equipment is used for controlling liquid in a flow channel. The digital micro-flow control chip takes the liquid drops as an operation object, and controls the movement of the liquid drops through electric field force, thermal force or electrostatic force and the like. The digital microfluidic control chip is capable of controlling each individual droplet individually.

Compared with the traditional microfluidic control chip, the digital microfluidic control chip has the advantages of simple structure, convenience for large-scale integration, small amount of required sample reagent, convenience for droplet control, miniaturization, integration, low cost, high sensitivity, high flexibility and the like, and improves the speed of moving, extracting, separating, mixing and detecting the sample (droplet). The digital micro-flow control chip has a wide application prospect in a plurality of fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and the like. However, in the related art, when the digital microfluidic chip is subjected to fault detection, the fault detection efficiency is low.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a digital micro-flow control chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The digital microfluidic control chip can solve the problem of low efficiency of fault detection in the related technology. As can be seen with reference to fig. 1, the digital micro-flow control chip may include: the device comprises a controller 101, a driving circuit 102, an impedance detection circuit 103, and a first electrode 104 and a plurality of second electrodes 105 which are oppositely arranged. For example, 3 second electrodes 105(105a, 105b, and 105c) are shown in fig. 1. Wherein, the orthographic projection of each second electrode 105 on the plane of the first electrode 104 is positioned in the area of the first electrode 104.

As an alternative implementation manner, the driving circuit 102 may be connected to the plurality of second electrodes 105, and configured to provide a driving signal to a target second electrode to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes 105, so as to drive the droplet a injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to a region where the target second electrode is located.

For example, referring to fig. 1, assuming that the second electrode 105b in fig. 1 is the target second electrode, the liquid crystal a should be located in the area where the second electrode 105b is located.

Alternatively, the driving circuit 102 may determine a target second electrode to be detected from the plurality of second electrodes 105 every first time threshold, and provide a driving signal to the target second electrode.

The impedance detection circuit 103 may be connected to the controller 101 and the plurality of second electrodes 105, respectively, for detecting an impedance between each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104, and transmitting the resultant plurality of impedances to the controller 101.

Alternatively, the impedance detection circuit 103 may detect the impedance between each second electrode 105 and the first electrode 101 once every second time threshold. The second time threshold may be the same as or different from the first time threshold, and this is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

The controller 101 may be configured to: if it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is within the first impedance range, and the impedances between the other second electrodes, except the target second electrode, of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 are not within the second impedance range, it may be determined that the target second electrode is not faulty. If it is detected that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is not within the first impedance range, or the impedance between the other second electrodes and the first electrode 104 is within the second impedance range, it is determined that the target second electrode has a fault.

The first impedance range and the second impedance range may be two impedance ranges pre-stored by the controller 101. Also, the first impedance range may be a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when it is determined that the second electrode 105 has no failure and the region where the second electrode 105 is located has a droplet. The second impedance range may be a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is determined to be in a region without a droplet in the absence of a failure of the second electrode 105. Thus, there is no intersection of the first and second impedance ranges, and the upper limit of the first impedance range may be less than the lower limit of the second impedance range.

It should be noted that, for any one of the second electrodes 105, if there is a droplet a in the area where the second electrode 105 is located, the impedance detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 may be relatively large; if the second electrode 105 is located in the area where the droplet a does not exist, the impedance detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 may be smaller. Therefore, if the impedance detection circuit 103 detects that the impedance between a certain second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is large, the impedance is in the first impedance range, which indicates that the second electrode 105 is located in the area having the droplet a. If the impedance detection circuit 103 detects that the impedance between a certain second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is small, the impedance is within a second impedance range, which indicates that the area where the second electrode 105 is located does not have the droplet a.

Therefore, if the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is larger and is within the first impedance range, and the impedances between the other second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 are smaller and are within the second impedance range, it is indicated that the area where the target second electrode is located has the droplet a, and the areas where the other second electrodes are located does not have the droplet a. That is, the droplet a can move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102, thereby indicating that the target second electrode has no fault.

If the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is small and is not within the first impedance range, it indicates that the area where the target second electrode is located does not have the droplet a. That is, the liquid droplet a cannot move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102, thereby indicating that the target second electrode has a fault.

If the impedances between the first electrode 104 and other second electrodes except the target second electrode are large and are not within the second impedance range, it indicates that the areas where the other second electrodes are located may have the liquid droplets a. That is, the droplet a is still located in the area where the other second electrode is located, and does not move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102, thereby indicating that the target second electrode has a fault.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a digital micro-flow control chip, where a driving circuit in the digital micro-flow control chip may provide a driving signal for a target second electrode to be detected in a plurality of second electrodes, an impedance detection circuit may be configured to detect an impedance between each second electrode and a first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes, and send the obtained plurality of impedances to a controller, and the controller may determine whether the target second electrode has a fault according to the detected plurality of impedances, and because it is not necessary to traverse the plurality of second electrodes along a preset path, the efficiency of fault detection is effectively improved.

Alternatively, if it is determined that the second electrode 105 is not defective and the second electrode 105 is located in a region with a droplet, it is detected that a first theoretical impedance (which may also be referred to as an ideal impedance) between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is 5 × 10⁴-j×4×10⁵. Wherein the first theoretical impedance may be complex, 5 × 10⁴Is resistance, 4X 10⁵J is the imaginary unit of the impedance for reactance.

Assuming that the second theoretical impedance (which may also be referred to as an ideal impedance) between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is 0.3-j × 3 × 10 when the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from a failure and the second electrode 105 is located in a region without a droplet⁷. Wherein the second theoretical impedance can also be complex, 0.3 is resistance, 3 × 10⁷J is the imaginary unit of the impedance for reactance.

Since each second electrode 105 surface may be contaminated, which may cause the impedance detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 to deviate from the theoretical impedance, an error tolerance value is usually set to determine the first impedance range. For example, assuming an error tolerance value of 0, the first impedance range is 5 × 10⁴-j×4×10⁵. The second impedance range is 0.3-jx 3 x 10⁷. Assuming an error tolerance of 0.1, the first impedance range is 4.5 × 10⁴-j×4×10⁵To 5.5X 10⁴-j×3.4×10⁶The second impedance range is 0.3-jx 2.7 x 10⁷To 5X 10³-j×3.3×10⁷。

The impedance between the first electrode 104 and the second electrode 105 is positively correlated with the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the first electrode 104. That is, the larger the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the first electrode 104, the larger the impedance between the first electrode 104 and the second electrode 105; the smaller the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the first electrode 104, the smaller the impedance between the first electrode 104 and the second electrode 105.

Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy of determining whether the second electrode 105 is malfunctioning or not by the controller 101, the size of the droplet used when determining whether the second electrode is malfunctioning may be the same as the size of the droplet used when detecting the first and second theoretical impedances. That is, the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet on the first electrode 104 used when determining whether or not the failure is present may be the same as the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet on the first electrode 104 used when detecting the first theoretical impedance and the second theoretical impedance.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip provided in an embodiment of the present application. As can be seen with reference to fig. 2, the controller 101 may also be connected to a driver circuit 102. The controller 101 may also be used to send control signals to the drive circuit 102 and detection signals to the impedance detection circuit 103.

That is, after receiving the control signal sent by the controller 101, the driving circuit 102 may provide a driving signal to the target second electrode according to the control signal, so as to drive the droplet a injected into the digital micro-flow control chip 10 to move to the area where the target second electrode is located. The impedance detection circuit 103 may detect the impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 based on the detection signal after receiving the detection signal transmitted by the controller 101.

Of course, the driving circuit 102 may also determine a target second electrode to be detected from the plurality of second electrodes 105 every first time threshold, and provide a driving signal to the target second electrode. The impedance detection circuit 103 may detect the impedance between each second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 once every second time threshold. The second time threshold may be the same as or different from the first time threshold, and this is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

For example, assuming that the droplet a is located in the area of the first second electrode 105a before the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal to the second electrode 105, the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal to the second electrode 105b (the second electrode 105b is the target second electrode) after receiving the control signal sent by the controller 101. Assuming that there is no failure of the second electrode 105b, the droplet a can move from the area where the first second electrode a is located to the area where the second electrode 105b is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. That is, the droplet a may be located at the position shown in fig. 2 at this time.

In the embodiment of the present application, since it takes a certain time for the droplet a to move, the controller 101 may send a detection signal to the impedance detection circuit 103 after sending a control signal to the driving circuit 102. That is, the driving circuit 102 may receive the control signal sent by the controller 101, and provide the driving signal to the target second electrode according to the control signal, so as to drive the droplet a to move to the area where the target second electrode is located. After that, the controller 101 sends the detection signal to the impedance detection circuit 103, and the impedance detection circuit 103 detects the impedance between each second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 according to the detection signal. That is, the droplet a can be allowed to move to the target second electrode for a sufficient time, and the accuracy of the result detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 is ensured.

Optionally, the time difference between the time when the controller 101 sends the control signal and the time when the detection signal is sent is within the time difference threshold range.

For example, assuming that the time difference between two times of sending the control signal by the controller 101 is 0.2s (second), the time difference threshold may range from 0.05s to 0.15s, for example, the time difference between the time of sending the control signal by the controller 101 and the time of sending the detection signal may be 0.1 s. That is, the time difference between the time when the controller 101 transmits the control signal and the time when the detection signal is transmitted cannot be too small or too large.

As a possible case, if there is no failure of the target second electrode, and the time difference between the time when the controller 101 transmits the control signal and the time when the detection signal is transmitted is small, for example, the time difference is less than the minimum value of the time difference threshold range of 0.05 s. That is, the difference between the time when the driving circuit 102 receives the control signal and the time when the impedance detection circuit 103 receives the detection signal is small, and when the droplet a does not have enough time to move to the area where the target second electrode is located (the droplet may only move to between the target second electrode and other second electrodes), the impedance detection circuit 103 starts to detect the impedance between each second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104, and at this time, the controller 101 may determine that the target impedance is not within the first impedance range according to the target impedances of the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 detected by the impedance detection circuit 103, and further determine that the target second electrode has a fault, that is, the controller 101 may perform false detection on the target second electrode.

As another possible case, if there is no failure of the target second electrode, and the time difference between the time when the controller 101 sends the control signal and the time when the detection signal is sent is large, for example, the time difference is greater than the maximum value of the time difference threshold range by 0.15 s. That is, the time when the driving circuit 102 receives the control signal is too different from the time when the impedance detecting circuit 103 receives the detection signal, the controller 101 may have started to send the next control signal to the driving circuit 102, that is, the driving circuit 102 has driven the droplet to move to the next area where the second electrode 105 is located, and the impedance detecting circuit 103 starts to detect. At this time, the controller 101 may determine that the target impedance is not within the first impedance range according to the target impedances of the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 detected by the impedance detection circuit 103, and further determine that the target second electrode has a fault, that is, the controller 101 may perform false detection on the target second electrode.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip provided in an embodiment of the present application. As can be seen with reference to fig. 3, the driving circuit 102 may include a plurality of switch sub-circuits 1021. A control terminal 1021a of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to the controller 101, an input terminal 1021b of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to the driving signal source 106, an output terminal 1021c of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to one second electrode 105, and the output terminals 1021c of different switch sub-circuits 1021 are connected to different second electrodes 105.

The controller 101 may be configured to provide a first control signal to a target switch sub-circuit 1021 connected to a target second electrode and to provide a second control signal to other switch sub-circuits 1021 other than the target switch sub-circuit 1021.

The target switch sub-circuit 1021 is configured to control the input end 1021b and the input end 1021c of the target switch sub-circuit 1021 to be conducted in response to the first control signal, so as to provide the driving signal from the driving signal source 106 to the target second electrode.

The other switch sub-circuit 1021 may be configured to control the input 1021b and the output 1021c of the other switch sub-circuit 1021 to be disconnected in response to the second control signal.

Alternatively, referring to fig. 4, each switch sub-circuit 1021 may include: the transistor M0, wherein a gate 1021a of the transistor M0 (the gate 1021 of the transistor M0 is the control terminal 1021 of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the controller 101, a source 1021b of the transistor M0 (the source of the transistor M0 is the input terminal 1021b of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the driving signal source 106, and a drain 1021c of the transistor M0 (the drain 1021c of the transistor M0 is the output terminal 1021c of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to a second electrode 105.

That is, if the controller 101 provides the first control signal to the gate 1021c of the transistor M0, the transistor M0 can be turned on, and the driving signal of the driving signal source 106 can be transmitted to the second electrode 105. If the controller 101 provides the second control signal to the gate 1021b of the transistor M0, the transistor M0 can be turned off, and the driving signal of the driving signal source 106 cannot be transmitted to the second electrode 105.

As can be seen with reference to fig. 3 and 4, the impedance detection circuit 103 may include: a plurality of impedance detection sub-circuits 1031. Each impedance detection sub-circuit 1031 may be connected to one second electrode 105 for detecting the impedance between one second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104.

Wherein each impedance detection sub-circuit may include: a current detector and a voltage detector. The current detector may be used to detect the current flowing through the second electrode 105, and the voltage detector may be used to detect the voltage of the second electrode 105. The impedance detection circuit 103 may determine the magnitude and phase of the detected current and voltage based on the current and voltage. The impedance between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is then determined based on the amplitude and phase. Wherein the impedance Z satisfies:wherein R is the resistance, X is the reactance, j is the imaginary unit of the impedance Z,is an alternating voltage detected by the voltage detector,is an alternating current detected by the current detector. Also, the ratio of the ac voltage to the ac current may be complex.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another digital micro-flow control chip according to an embodiment of the present application. As can be seen with reference to fig. 5 and 6, the digital micro-flow control chip 10 may further include: a register 107 connected to the controller 101.

The controller 101 may be configured to send an identification of each second electrode 105 and status information to the register 107, wherein the status information may be used to indicate whether the driving circuit 102 is providing driving signals to the second electrodes 105.

The register 107 may be used to record the correspondence of the identity of each second electrode 105 with the status information.

The controller 101 may be further configured to read the corresponding relationship from the register 107, and determine, as a target second electrode, a second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 to which the driving circuit 102 supplies the driving signal according to the corresponding relationship.

Alternatively, the identification of each second electrode 105 may be the number of the second electrode 105. The state information of each second electrode 105 may be represented by 0 or 1. Where 0 indicates that the driving circuit 102 does not provide a driving signal to the second electrode 105, and 1 indicates that the driving circuit 102 provides a driving signal to the second electrode 105.

For example, referring to fig. 7, the digital micro-flow control chip 10 may include 16 second electrodes 105, and the 16 second electrodes 105 are arranged in 4 rows and 4 columns, and the number of the area where each second electrode 105 is located represents the identifier of the second electrode 105, where the identifier is the number of the second electrode 105. Thus, the register 107 can record the correspondence between the numbers of the 16 second electrodes 105 and the state information of each second electrode 105. Of course, the plurality of second electrodes 105 included in the digital micro-flow control chip 10 provided in the embodiment of the present application may also be irregularly arranged, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

The correspondence relationship in the register 107 may be generated by a correlation code in the controller 101, and may indicate a state when none of the second electrodes 105 has failed.

In the embodiment of the present application, in order to facilitate determining whether the second electrode 105 in the digital micro-flow control chip 10 has a fault, the controller 101 may further determine a first ratio of a difference between the impedance detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 and the first theoretical impedance to a difference between the first theoretical impedance and the second theoretical impedance. Also, the controller 101 may have a ratio error threshold value ∈ stored in advance. If the first ratio is less than the ratio error threshold, the controller 101 may determine that the second electrode 105 is located in an area with a droplet. Also, if the second electrode 105 is a target second electrode, the controller 101 may determine that there is no fault with the second electrode 105 (target second electrode).

For example, assuming that the impedance Z0 ═ R0+ j × X0 detected by the impedance detection circuit 103, the first theoretical impedance is Z1 ═ R1+ j × X1, and the second theoretical impedance is Z2 ═ R2+ j × X2, the difference between the first theoretical impedance Z1 and the second theoretical impedance Z2 may satisfy:

the difference between the impedance Z0 detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 and the first theoretical impedance may satisfy:

accordingly, the first ratio may satisfy: i Z0-Z1I/I Z1-Z2I.

Alternatively, the ratio error threshold ε may be 0.1, and if the first ratio is less than 0.1, the controller 101 may determine that the second electrode 105 is in a region with a droplet.

The controller 101 may also determine a second ratio of the difference between the impedance detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 and the second theoretical impedance to the difference between the first theoretical impedance and the second theoretical impedance. If the second ratio is less than the ratio error threshold, the controller 101 can determine that the second electrode 105 is located in an area without droplets. If the second electrode 105 is a target second electrode, the controller 101 may determine that the second electrode 105 (target second electrode) has a fault.

For example, the difference between the impedance Z0 detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 and the second theoretical impedance may satisfy:accordingly, the second ratio may satisfy: i Z0-Z2I/I Z1-Z2I. If the second ratio is less than 0.1, the controller 101 may determine that the second electrode 105 is located in a region without a droplet.

If the first ratio and the second ratio are both greater than the ratio error threshold, it can be determined that the droplet is located in the region of the two second electrodes 105, and it is determined that the target second electrode has a fault. Wherein one of the two second electrodes 105 is a target second electrode.

For example, if the first ratio and the second ratio are both greater than 0.1, the controller 101 may determine that the droplet is located in the area of the two second electrodes 105.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a digital micro-flow control chip, where a driving circuit in the digital micro-flow control chip may provide a driving signal for a target second electrode to be detected in a plurality of second electrodes, an impedance detection circuit may be configured to detect an impedance between each second electrode and a first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes, and send the obtained plurality of impedances to a controller, and the controller may determine whether the target second electrode has a fault according to the detected plurality of impedances, and it is not necessary to traverse the plurality of second electrodes along a preset path with a droplet, so that efficiency of fault detection is high.

As another alternative implementation, referring to fig. 1, the driving circuit 102 may be connected to the plurality of second electrodes 105, and configured to provide a driving signal to a target second electrode to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes 105, so as to drive the droplet a injected into the digital micro-flow control chip 10 to move to a region where the target second electrode is located.

Alternatively, the driving circuit 102 may determine a target second electrode to be detected from the plurality of second electrodes 105 every first time threshold, and provide a driving signal to the target second electrode.

The impedance detection circuit 103 may be connected to the controller 101 and the plurality of second electrodes 105, respectively, for detecting an impedance between each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104, and transmitting the resultant plurality of impedances to the controller 101.

Alternatively, the impedance detection circuit 103 may detect the impedance between each second electrode 105 and the first electrode 101 once every second time threshold. The second time threshold may be the same as or different from the first time threshold, and this is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

The controller 101 may be configured to determine the location of the drop a based on the plurality of impedances. If the position of the liquid drop a is located in the area where the target second electrode is located, determining that the target second electrode has no fault; and if the position of the liquid drop a is not in the area of the target second electrode, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

For example, referring to fig. 1, assuming that the second electrode 105b in fig. 1 is the target second electrode, the liquid crystal a should be located in the area where the second electrode 105b is located. If the liquid crystal a is not located in the area where the second electrode 105b is located, it is determined that the second electrode 105b has a failure.

It should be noted that, for any one of the second electrodes 105 in the plurality of second electrodes 105, if the impedance between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is relatively large, it indicates that the area where the second electrode 105 is located has the droplet a, that is, the position where the droplet a is located in the area where the second electrode 105 is located. If the impedance between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is small, it indicates that the area where the second electrode 105 is located does not have the droplet a, i.e. the position where the droplet a is located is not located in the area where the second electrode 105 is located.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, if the controller 101 determines that the position of the droplet a is located in the area where the target second electrode is located according to the plurality of impedances detected by the impedance detection circuit 103, it indicates that the droplet a can move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102, and further indicates that the target second electrode has no fault.

If the controller 101 determines that the droplet a is located in the area not located in the target second electrode according to the impedances detected by the impedance detection circuit 103, it may be located in the area located in the other second electrodes, except the target second electrode, of the second electrodes 105. Therefore, the liquid drop a cannot move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102, and the target second electrode is further indicated to have a fault.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a digital micro-flow control chip, where a driving circuit in the digital micro-flow control chip may be an impedance between each second electrode and a first electrode in a plurality of second electrodes, and send the detected impedances to a controller, and the controller determines whether a droplet is located in an area where a target second electrode is located according to the detected impedances, and determines whether a fault exists in the target second electrode according to whether the droplet is located in the area where the target second electrode is located.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may further be configured to: at least one candidate electrode is determined from the plurality of second electrodes 105 based on the plurality of impedances.

Wherein the impedance between each alternative electrode and the first electrode 104 is within a third impedance range. The upper limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to the upper limit of the second impedance range and less than or equal to the lower limit of the second impedance range, and the lower limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to the upper limit of the first impedance range and less than or equal to the lower limit of the first impedance range. That is, the controller 101 may determine the second electrodes 105 having the liquid droplets in the areas as the alternative electrodes, regardless of the liquid droplets in the areas where the second electrodes 105 are located.

The first impedance range may be a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is located in a region having the droplet a in a case where it is determined that the second electrode 105 is not defective. This second impedance range may be a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 without a droplet in the event that the second electrode 105 is determined to be non-faulty. Thus, there is no intersection of the first and second impedance ranges, and the upper limit of the first impedance range may be less than the lower limit of the second impedance range.

Alternatively, if it is determined that the second electrode 105 is not defective and the second electrode 105 is located in a region with a droplet, it is detected that a first theoretical impedance (which may also be referred to as an ideal impedance) between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is 5 × 10⁴-j×4×10⁵. Wherein the first theoretical impedance may be complex, 5 × 10⁴Is resistance, 4X 10⁵J is the imaginary unit of the impedance for reactance.

Assuming that the second theoretical impedance (which may also be referred to as an ideal impedance) between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is 0.3-j × 3 × 10 when the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from a failure and the second electrode 105 is located in a region without a droplet⁷. Wherein the second theoretical impedance can also be complex, 0.3 is resistance, 3 × 10⁷J is the imaginary unit of the impedance for reactance.

Since each second electrode 105 may have a surface that is contaminated, which may cause the impedance detected by the impedance detection circuit 103 to deviate from the theoretical impedance, an error tolerance value is usually set to determine the first impedance range. For example, assuming an error tolerance value of 0, the first impedance range is 5 × 10⁴-j×4×10⁵. The second impedance range is 0.3-jx 3 x 10⁷. Assuming an error tolerance of 0.1, the first impedance range is 4.5 × 10⁴-j×4×10⁵To 5.5X 10⁴-j×3.4×10⁶The second impedance range is 0.3-jx 2.7 x 10⁷To 5X 10³-j×3.3×10⁷。

The impedance between the first electrode 104 and the second electrode 105 is positively correlated with the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the first electrode 104. That is, the larger the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the first electrode 104, the larger the impedance between the first electrode 104 and the second electrode 105; the smaller the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the first electrode 104, the smaller the impedance between the first electrode 104 and the second electrode 105.

Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy of determining whether the second electrode 105 is malfunctioning or not by the controller 101, the size of the droplet used when determining whether the second electrode is malfunctioning may be the same as the size of the droplet used when detecting the first and second theoretical impedances. That is, the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet on the first electrode 104 used when determining whether or not the failure is present may be the same as the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet on the first electrode 104 used when detecting the first theoretical impedance and the second theoretical impedance.

If the controller 101 determines an alternative electrode from the plurality of second electrodes 105, the controller 101 may determine the position of the alternative electrode as the position of the droplet.

If the controller 101 determines two candidate electrodes from the plurality of second electrodes 105, the controller 101 may determine the position of the droplet according to the ratio of the impedances of the two candidate electrodes to the first electrode 104 and the positions of the two candidate electrodes.

Alternatively, the position of the second electrode 105 may refer to a center position of the second electrode 105, and the position of the second electrode 105 may be represented by coordinates of a center point of the second electrode 105. And, the position of the droplet may refer to a center position of the droplet, and the position of the droplet may be represented by coordinates of a center point of the droplet.

For example, referring to fig. 8, the area where the first second electrode 105a is located and the area where the third second electrode 105c is located do not have the droplet a, and the area where the second electrode 105b is located has the droplet a, so the controller 101 may determine that the second electrode 105b is the candidate electrode according to the three impedances of the three second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104, and directly determine the center position of the second electrode 105b as the center position of the droplet.

In the embodiment of the present application, the distance between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the first candidate electrode along the target direction, and the ratio of the distance between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the second candidate electrode along the target direction may be equal to the ratio of the impedance between the second candidate electrode and the first electrode 104, and the impedance between the third candidate electrode and the first electrode 104. Wherein, the target direction may be a connecting line direction of the central positions of the two alternative electrodes.

Referring to fig. 9, the area where the first second electrode 105a is located has no droplet a, the area where the second electrode 105b is located and the area where the third second electrode 105c is located both have a droplet a, and a part of the droplet is located in the area where the second electrode 105b is located, and another part of the droplet is located in the area where the third second electrode 105c is located, so that the controller 101 can determine that the second electrode 105b and the third second electrode 105c are alternative electrodes according to three impedances of the three second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104. Thus, the controller 101 may determine the center position a1 of the droplet a based on the ratio of the modulus of the impedance of the second electrode 105b to the modulus of the impedance of the third second electrode 105c, the center position 105b1 of the second electrode 105b, and the center position 105c1 of the third second electrode 105 c.

For example, assume that the impedance Z31 of the second electrode 105b is R31+ j × X31, and the impedance Z32 of the third second electrode 105c is R32+ j × X32. The modulus value | Z31| of the impedance Z31 satisfies:the modulus value | Z32| of the impedance Z32 satisfies:thus, the distance y1 in the target direction X between the center position a1 of the droplet a and the center position 105b1 of the second electrode 105b, and the distance y2 in the target direction X between the center position a1 of the droplet a and the center position 105c1 of the third second electrode 105c satisfy: y1/y 2| Z32|/| Z31 |.

Referring to fig. 10, assuming that the impedance between the second electrode 105b and the first electrode 104 is equal to the impedance between the second electrode 105b and the first electrode 104, that is, the ratio of the impedance of the second electrode 105b to the impedance of the third second electrode 105c is 1, the center position a1 of the droplet a may coincide with the center positions of the two second electrodes 105 (the second electrode 105b and the third second electrode 105c), and the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the second electrode 105b may be equal to the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the third second electrode 105 c. At this time, y1/y2 ═ Z32|/| Z31| ═ 1.

In the embodiment of the present application, after determining the center position a1 of the droplet a, the controller 101 may determine whether the position of the droplet a is located in the area of the target second electrode. The controller 101 may determine a difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the target second electrode according to the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the target second electrode. If the difference value is within the range of the difference value, determining that the liquid drop is positioned in the area where the target second electrode is positioned; and if the difference is not within the range of the difference, determining that the liquid drop is not located in the area where the target second electrode is located.

The difference may range from greater than or equal to 0mm and less than or equal to 1/3 the length of the second electrode. The controller 101 may store the length of the second electrode in advance. For example, assuming that the length of the second electrode is 1 millimeter (mm), the difference may range from greater than or equal to 0mm to less than or equal to 1/3 mm. Thus, if the difference between the central position of the liquid drop a and the central position of the target second electrode is greater than or equal to 0mm and less than or equal to 1/3mm, determining that the liquid drop is located in the area of the target second electrode; and if the difference between the central position of the liquid drop a and the central position of the target second electrode is greater than 1/3mm, determining that the liquid drop is not positioned in the area of the target second electrode.

Referring to fig. 8, since the central position of the droplet a is the central position 105b1 of the second electrode 105b, if the second electrode 105b is the target second electrode, it can be determined that the droplet a is located in the area of the target second electrode, and thus it is determined that the target second electrode has no fault.

Of course, the difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the target second electrode is determined. It is also possible to determine a difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the second electrode adjacent to the target second electrode, and to determine a ratio of the difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the target second electrode to the difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the second electrode adjacent to the target second electrode. Wherein, the area of the second electrode adjacent to the target second electrode is provided with a liquid drop a. If the ratio is larger than a first ratio threshold, determining that the liquid drop is positioned in the area of the target second electrode; and if the ratio is smaller than a second ratio threshold value, determining that the liquid drop is positioned in the area where other second electrodes are positioned. Illustratively, the first ratio threshold and the second ratio threshold are reciprocal values. For example, the first ratio threshold may be 2 and the second ratio threshold may be 1/2.

It should be noted that if the second electrode 105b is a target second electrode and the second electrode 105b is not faulty, the droplet can move to the area of the second electrode 105b based on the dielectric wetting principle. Referring to fig. 8, the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the first electrode 104 covers the orthographic projection of the second electrode 105b on the first electrode 104. At this time, the impedances of the second electrode 105b and the first electrode 104 may be in a first impedance range, the impedances of the first second electrode 105a and the first electrode 104, and the impedances of the third second electrode 105c and the first electrode 104 are in a second impedance range.

Of course, the impedances of the two second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 may be in the third impedance range during the process of the droplet a moving from the area of one second electrode 105 to the area of the other second electrode 105.

In the embodiment of the present application, for other relevant descriptions of the digital micro-flow control chip 10, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions of the above embodiments, and further description of the embodiments of the present application is omitted here.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a digital micro-flow control chip, where a driving circuit in the digital micro-flow control chip may be an impedance between each second electrode and a first electrode in a plurality of second electrodes, and send the detected impedances to a controller, and the controller determines whether a droplet is located in an area where a target second electrode is located according to the detected impedances, and determines whether a fault exists in the target second electrode according to whether the droplet is located in the area where the target second electrode is located.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a fault detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the method can be applied to the digital micro-flow control chip provided in the above embodiment, for example, the method is described by taking the digital micro-flow control chip shown in fig. 1 as an example. As can be seen with reference to fig. 11, the method may include:

step 201, the driving circuit drives the liquid drop injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located in the plurality of second electrodes.

In the embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 1, a driving circuit 102 may be connected to the plurality of second electrodes 105, and the driving circuit 102 may be configured to provide a driving signal to a target second electrode to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes 105, so as to drive the droplet a injected into the digital micro-flow control chip 10 to move to a region where the target second electrode is located.

After the driving circuit 102 provides a driving signal to a target second electrode of the plurality of second electrodes 105, the droplet a may move to an area where the target second electrode is located based on the dielectric wetting principle.

Step 202, the impedance detection circuit determines the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes to obtain a plurality of impedances.

In the embodiment of the present application, the impedance detecting circuit 103 may be respectively connected to the controller 101 and the plurality of second electrodes 105, and is configured to detect an impedance between each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104, so as to obtain a plurality of impedances. Also, the impedance detection circuit 103 may transmit a plurality of impedances detected by it to the controller 101.

Step 203, the controller detects whether the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within the first impedance range, and detects whether the impedances between the other second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes are within the second impedance range.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may store a first impedance range and a second impedance range in advance. The first impedance range is a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is located in the area having the droplet a under the condition that the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from faults. The second impedance range is a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is located in a region without the droplet a under a condition that the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from a failure. There is no intersection of the first and second impedance ranges, and the upper limit of the first impedance range may be less than the lower limit of the second impedance range.

After receiving the plurality of impedances transmitted by the impedance detection circuit 103, the controller 101 may detect whether a target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is within a first impedance range, and detect whether impedances between other second electrodes, except the target second electrode, of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 are within a second impedance range.

If the controller 101 detects that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is within the first impedance range, it indicates that the target second electrode is located in the area having the droplet a. If the controller 101 detects that the impedances between the first electrodes 104 and the second electrodes 105 except the target second electrode are within the second impedance range, it indicates that the areas where the second electrodes are located do not have the droplet a. That is, the droplet a can move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 104 described below.

If the controller 101 detects that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is not within the first impedance range, it indicates that the target second electrode is located in an area without the droplet a or with a smaller amount of the droplet a. That is, the liquid droplet a cannot move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 105 described below.

If the controller 101 detects that the impedances of the first electrode 104 and other second electrodes of the plurality of second electrodes 105 except the target second electrode are not within the second impedance range, it indicates that the areas where the other second electrodes are located may have the droplet a. That is, the liquid droplet a cannot move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 105 described below.

And step 204, determining that the target second electrode has no fault.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the controller 101 detects that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is within the first impedance range, and detects that the impedances between the other second electrodes, except the target second electrode, of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 are within the second impedance range, the controller 101 may determine that the target second electrode is not faulty.

And step 205, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the controller 101 detects that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is not within the first impedance range, or detects that the impedances between the other second electrodes, except the target second electrode, of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 are not within the second impedance range, the controller 101 may determine that the target second electrode is faulty.

In summary, the embodiments of the present application provide a fault detection method, which can drive a droplet injected into a digital micro-flow control chip to move to an area where a target second electrode of a plurality of second electrodes is located, detect an impedance between each second electrode of the plurality of second electrodes and a first electrode, detect whether a target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within a first impedance range, and detect whether impedances between other second electrodes and the first electrode are within a second impedance range, thereby determining whether the target second electrode is faulty. According to the fault detection method provided by the embodiment of the application, the liquid drops do not need to traverse the plurality of second electrodes along the preset path, so that the fault detection efficiency is effectively improved.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of another fault detection method provided in this embodiment of the present application, which can be applied to the digital microfluidic control chip 10 provided in the above embodiment, for example, the digital microfluidic control chip 10 shown in fig. 6 is taken as an example for description. As can be seen with reference to fig. 12, the method may include:

step 301, the controller sends a control signal to the driving circuit.

In the embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 6, the controller 101 may be connected to the driving circuit 102, and the controller 101 may send a control signal to the driving circuit 102 for the driving circuit 102 to provide a driving signal to a target second electrode in the plurality of second electrodes 105.

Wherein, referring to fig. 6, the driving circuit 102 may include: a plurality of switch sub-circuits 1021. A control terminal 1021a of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to the controller 101, an input terminal 1021b of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to the driving signal source 106, and an output terminal 1021c of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to one of the second electrodes 105.

The controller 101 may provide a first control signal to a target switch sub-circuit 1021 connected to a target second electrode and a second control signal to other switch sub-circuits 1021 other than the target switch sub-circuit 1021. The first control signal may be used to control the switch sub-circuit 1021 to be turned on, and the second control signal may be used to control the switch sub-circuit 1021 to be turned off. That is, the controller 101 may control the target switch sub-circuit 1021 connected to the target second electrode to be turned on, and control the other switch sub-circuits 1021 connected to the other second electrodes to be turned off.

It should be noted that there may be a plurality of target second electrodes, and correspondingly, there may also be a plurality of target switch sub-circuits 1021. That is, the controller 101 may control the driving circuit 102 to provide driving signals to the plurality of target second electrodes at the same time, and then may detect whether the plurality of target second electrodes have faults at the same time, so as to further improve the detection efficiency. Wherein any two of the plurality of target second electrodes are not adjacent.

Step 302, the driving circuit provides a driving signal to the target second electrode according to the control signal to drive the droplet injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the control signal sent by the controller 101, the driving circuit 102 may provide a driving signal to a target second electrode in the plurality of second electrodes 105 to drive the droplet injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located.

The driving circuit 102 may include: a target switching sub-circuit 1021 connected to the target second electrode, and other switching sub-circuits 1021 connected to other second electrodes. The controller 101 provides a first control signal to the target switch sub-circuit 1021 and a second control signal to the other switch sub-circuits 1021.

The target switch sub-circuit 1021, in response to the received first control signal, may control the input end 1021b and the output end 1021c of the target switch sub-circuit 1021 to be conductive, so as to provide the target second electrode with the driving signal from the driving signal source 106. The other switch sub-circuit 1021 may control the input 1021b and the output 1021c of the other switch sub-circuit 1021 to be disconnected in response to the received second control signal. The target second electrode may move the droplet a from the area where the other second electrode is located to the area where the target second electrode is located after receiving the driving signal.

Alternatively, referring to fig. 6, each switch sub-circuit 1021 may include: transistor M0. The gate 1021a of the transistor M0 (the gate of the transistor M0 is the control terminal 1021a of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the controller 101, the source 1021b of the transistor M0 (the source of the transistor M0 is the input terminal 1021b of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the driving signal source 106, and the drain 1021c of the transistor M0 (the drain of the transistor M0 is the output terminal 1021c of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the second electrode 105.

When the controller 101 provides the first control signal to the gate 1021a of the transistor M0, the transistor M0 may be turned on, and the driving signal of the driving signal source 106 may be transmitted to the second electrode 105. When the controller 101 provides the second control signal to the gate 1021a of the transistor M0, the transistor M0 may be turned off, and the driving signal of the driving signal source 106 cannot be transmitted to the second electrode 105.

It should be noted that, a plurality of droplets can be injected into the digital micro-flow control chip 10, and accordingly, the driving circuit 102 can provide driving signals to the plurality of second electrodes 105. The number of target second electrodes, which the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal, may be the same as the number of injected droplets in the digital micro-flow control chip 10. Therefore, the controller 101 can detect a plurality of target second electrodes at the same time, and the detection efficiency is further improved. Wherein any two of the plurality of target second electrodes are not adjacent.

Step 303, the controller sends the identification of each second electrode and the status information to the register.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the controller 101 provides the control signal to the driving circuit 102, the controller 101 determines which second electrodes 105 can be provided with the driving signal by the driving circuit 102, and which second electrodes 105 cannot be provided with the driving signal by the driving circuit 102. The controller 101 may then send the identity of each second electrode 105 and the status information to the register 107. Wherein the state information may be used to indicate whether the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal to the second electrode 105.

For example, if the driving circuit 102 is capable of providing a driving signal to a certain second electrode 105, the state information of the second electrode 105 may be 1. If the driving circuit 102 is not capable of providing a driving signal to a certain second electrode 105, the state information of the second electrode 105 may be 0.

And step 304, recording the corresponding relation between the identification and the state information of each second electrode by a register.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the identifier and the status information of every two second electrodes 105 sent by the controller 101, the register 107 may record the corresponding relationship between the identifier and the status information of every second electrode 105.

For example, referring to fig. 6, it is assumed that the digital micro-flow control chip 10 includes 3 second electrodes 105, and the driving circuit 102 is capable of providing a driving signal to the second electrode 105b of the 3 second electrodes 105, but is incapable of providing a driving signal to the first second electrode 105a and the third second electrode 105 c. Therefore, the register 107 can record the mark 1 and the state information 0 of the first second electrode 105a, record the mark 2 and the state information 1 of the second electrode 105b, and record the mark 3 and the state information 0 of the third second electrode 105 c.

Step 305, the controller sends a detection signal to the impedance detection circuit.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may send a detection signal to the impedance detection circuit 103 within a time difference threshold valve range after the controller 101 provides a control signal to the drive circuit 102. The detection signal may be used to instruct the impedance detection circuit 103 to detect the impedance between each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104.

Further, since the time difference between the time when the controller 101 transmits the control signal to the drive circuit 102 and the time when the controller 101 transmits the detection signal to the impedance detection circuit 103 is within the time difference threshold range, the reliability of the detected impedance is high. Wherein the time difference threshold range may be 0.05s to 0.15 s. For example, the time difference between the time when the controller 101 transmits the control signal to the drive circuit 102 and the time when the detection signal is transmitted to the impedance detection circuit 103 is 0.1 s.

Step 306, the impedance detection circuit detects the impedance between each second electrode of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode according to the detection signal.

In the embodiment of the present application, the impedance detection circuit 103 may detect the impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 according to the detection signal after receiving the detection signal sent by the controller 101.

Wherein the impedance detection circuit 103 comprises a plurality of impedance detection sub-circuits 1031. Each impedance detection sub-circuit may be connected to one second electrode 105 for detecting an impedance between one second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104.

Each impedance detection sub-circuit 1031 may include: a voltage detector and a current detector. The voltage detector may be used to detect the voltage of the second electrode 105, and the current detector may be used to detect the current flowing through the second electrode 105. The impedance detection circuit 103 may determine the magnitude and phase of the detected current and voltage based on the current and voltage. The impedance between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is then determined based on the amplitude and phase.

Step 307, the impedance detection circuit sends a plurality of impedances to the controller.

In the embodiment of the present application, the impedance detection circuit 103 may obtain a plurality of impedances after detecting the impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104. Therefore, the impedance detection circuit 103 may transmit the obtained plurality of impedances to the controller 101, so that the controller 101 determines whether there is a fault in the target second electrode according to the plurality of impedances.

And 308, the controller reads the corresponding relation from the register and determines the second electrode provided with the driving signal by the driving circuit in the plurality of second electrodes as the target second electrode according to the corresponding relation.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may determine which second electrodes 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 are the target second electrodes before detecting whether the target second electrodes have faults. Thus, the controller 101 may read the correspondence relationship from the register 107, and determine, as a target second electrode, a second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 to which the driving circuit 102 is supplied with the driving signal, according to the correspondence relationship.

Step 309, the controller detects whether the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within the first impedance range, and detects whether the impedances between the other second electrodes except the target second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes are within the second impedance range.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may store a first impedance range and a second impedance range in advance. The first impedance range is a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is located in the area having the droplet a under the condition that the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from faults. The second impedance range is a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is located in a region without the droplet a under a condition that the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from a failure.

Also, the controller 101, after receiving the plurality of impedances transmitted by the impedance detection circuit 103, may detect whether a target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is within a first impedance range and whether impedances of the other second electrodes than the target second electrode among the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 are within a second impedance range based on the plurality of impedances.

If the controller 101 detects that the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is within the first impedance range, it indicates that the target second electrode is located in the area having the droplet a. If the controller 101 detects that the impedances between the first electrodes 104 and the second electrodes 105 except the target second electrode are within the second impedance range, it indicates that the areas where the second electrodes are located do not have the droplet a. That is, the liquid droplet can move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 310 described below.

If the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode 104 is not detected to be within the first impedance range, it indicates that the region where the target second electrode is located has no droplet a, or has only a few droplets a. That is, the liquid droplet cannot move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 311 described below.

If the impedances of the first electrode 104 and other second electrodes of the plurality of second electrodes 105 except the target second electrode are detected not to be within the second impedance range, it is indicated that the areas where the other second electrodes are located may have liquid droplets. That is, the liquid droplet cannot move to the area where the target second electrode is located under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 311 described below.

Step 310, determining that the target second electrode has no fault.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the droplet is located in the area where the target second electrode is located, and is not located in the area where other second electrodes are located, the controller 101 may determine that there is no fault in the target second electrode.

And 311, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the droplet is not located in the area where the target second electrode is located, or the droplet is located in the area where other second electrodes are located, the controller 101 may determine that the target second electrode has a fault.

It should be noted that, after detecting the target second electrode, the controller 101 may send the control signal to the driving circuit 102 again, and the driving circuit 102 may further provide the driving signal to the new target second electrode according to the control signal to detect the new target second electrode.

If the control signal sent by the controller 101 to the driving circuit 102 is the same as the control signal sent in the last detection, it indicates that the target second electrode to be detected this time is the target second electrode detected by the controller 101 last time, and the controller 101 may not need to detect the target second electrode.

If the control signal sent by the controller 101 to the driving circuit 102 is different from the control signal sent at the previous detection, it is described that the target second electrode to be detected this time is different from the target second electrode detected by the controller 101 at the previous time, and the controller 101 can detect the new target second electrode.

Moreover, the controller 101 may also send the identifiers and the state information of the plurality of second electrodes during the current detection to the register 107, so that the register 107 records the correspondence between the identifiers and the state information of the second electrodes.

It should be further noted that the order of the steps of the fault detection method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be appropriately adjusted, and the steps may also be increased or decreased according to the situation. For example, step 304 may be performed simultaneously with step 301, step 308 may be performed before step 305, and any method that is obvious to those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present disclosure is covered by the present disclosure, and therefore, the detailed description thereof is omitted.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a fault detection method. The method can drive liquid drops injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where a target second electrode is located in the plurality of second electrodes, detect the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes, detect whether the target impedance between the target second electrode and the first electrode is within a first impedance range, and detect whether the impedances between other second electrodes and the first electrode are within a second impedance range, thereby determining whether the target second electrode is in fault. According to the fault detection method provided by the embodiment of the application, the liquid drops do not need to traverse the plurality of second electrodes along the preset path, so that the fault detection efficiency is effectively improved.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart of another fault detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application, which can be applied to the digital micro-flow control chip 10 provided in the above embodiment, for example, the digital micro-flow control chip 10 shown in fig. 1 is taken as an example for description. As can be seen with reference to fig. 13, the method may include:

step 401, the driving circuit drives the liquid drop injected into the digital microfluidic chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located in the plurality of second electrodes.

In this embodiment, the driving circuit 102 may be connected to the plurality of second electrodes 105, and the driving circuit 102 may be configured to provide a driving signal to a target second electrode to be detected in the plurality of second electrodes 105, so as to drive the liquid droplet injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to an area where the target second electrode is located.

After the driving circuit 102 provides a driving signal to a target second electrode of the plurality of second electrodes 105, the droplet may move to an area where the target second electrode is located based on the dielectric wetting principle.

Step 402, the impedance detection circuit determines the impedance between each second electrode and the first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes to obtain a plurality of impedances.

In the embodiment of the present application, the impedance detecting circuit 103 may be respectively connected to the controller 101 and the plurality of second electrodes 105, and is configured to detect an impedance between each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104, so as to obtain a plurality of impedances. Also, the impedance detection circuit 103 may transmit a plurality of impedances detected by it to the controller 101.

In step 403, the controller determines the position of the droplet based on the plurality of impedances.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the plurality of impedances transmitted by the impedance detection circuit 103, the controller 101 may determine the position of the droplet based on the plurality of impedances.

For example, the controller 101 may determine that the area of the second electrode 105 corresponding to the larger impedance has the droplet a, and the area of the second electrode 105 corresponding to the smaller impedance does not have the droplet a. The controller 101 can thus determine the position of the droplet a according to the position of the second electrode 105 corresponding to the larger impedance.

In step 404, the controller detects whether the position of the droplet is located in the area of the target second electrode.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may store the position and size of the target second electrode in advance. Also, the controller 101 may determine the area of the second electrode 105 based on the position and size of the target second electrode. The controller 101 may determine whether the position of the droplet a is located in the area where the target second electrode is located according to the position of the droplet a determined in step 403. Wherein, the shape and size of each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 in the digital micro-flow control chip 10 can be the same.

For example, assuming that the second electrode 105 is square, the position of the second electrode 105 pre-stored by the controller 101 may be the center position of the second electrode 105, and the size of the second electrode 105 may be the side length.

If the controller 101 detects that the position of the droplet is located in the area of the target second electrode, it indicates that the droplet can move to the area of the target second electrode under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At which point the controller 101 may perform step 405 described below.

If the controller 101 detects that the position of the droplet is not located in the area of the target second electrode, it indicates that the droplet cannot move to the area of the target second electrode under the action of the driving signal provided by the driving circuit 102. At which point the controller 101 may perform step 406 described below.

Step 405, determining that the target second electrode is not faulty.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the position of the droplet is located in the area of the target second electrode, the controller 101 may determine that the target second electrode has no fault.

Step 406, determining that the target second electrode has a fault.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the position of the droplet is not located in the area of the target second electrode, the controller 101 may determine that the target second electrode has a fault.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a fault detection method, which can drive a droplet injected into a digital micro-flow control chip to move to an area where a target second electrode is located in a plurality of second electrodes, detect impedance between each second electrode and a first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes, drive a position of the droplet according to the impedance, and finally determine whether the target second electrode has a fault according to whether the droplet is located in the area where the target second electrode is located.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart of another fault detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the method may be applied to the digital micro-flow control chip 10 provided in the above embodiment, for example, the digital micro-flow control chip shown in fig. 6 is taken as an example for description. As can be seen with reference to fig. 14, the method may include:

step 501, the controller sends a control signal to the driving circuit.

In the embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 6, the controller 101 may be connected to the driving circuit 102, and the controller 101 may send a control signal to the driving circuit 102 for the driving circuit 102 to provide a driving signal to a target second electrode in the plurality of second electrodes 105.

Wherein, referring to fig. 6, the driving circuit 102 may include: a plurality of switch sub-circuits 1021. A control terminal 1021a of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to the controller 101, an input terminal 1021b of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to the driving signal source 106, and an output terminal 1021c of each switch sub-circuit 1021 may be connected to one of the second electrodes 105.

The controller 101 may provide a first control signal to a target switch sub-circuit 1021 connected to a target second electrode and a second control signal to other switch sub-circuits 1021 other than the target switch sub-circuit 1021. The first control signal may be used to control the switch sub-circuit 1021 to be turned on, and the second control signal may be used to control the switch sub-circuit 1021 to be turned off. That is, the controller 101 may control the target switch sub-circuit 1021 connected to the target second electrode to be turned on, and control the other switch sub-circuits 1021 connected to the other second electrodes to be turned off.

It should be noted that there may be a plurality of target second electrodes, and correspondingly, there may also be a plurality of target switch sub-circuits 1021. That is, the controller 101 may control the driving circuit 102 to provide driving signals to the plurality of target second electrodes at the same time, and then may detect whether the plurality of target second electrodes have faults at the same time, so as to further improve the detection efficiency. Wherein any two of the plurality of target second electrodes are not adjacent.

Step 502, the driving circuit provides a driving signal to the target second electrode according to the control signal to drive the droplet injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the control signal sent by the controller 101, the driving circuit 102 may provide a driving signal to a target second electrode in the plurality of second electrodes 105 to drive the droplet injected into the digital micro-flow control chip to move to the area where the target second electrode is located.

The driving circuit 102 may include: a target switching sub-circuit 1021 connected to the target second electrode, and other switching sub-circuits 1021 connected to other second electrodes. The controller 101 provides a first control signal to the target switch sub-circuit 1021 and a second control signal to the other switch sub-circuits 1021.

The target switch sub-circuit 1021, in response to the received first control signal, may control the input end 1021b and the output end 1021c of the target switch sub-circuit 1021 to be conductive, so as to provide the target second electrode with the driving signal from the driving signal source 106. The other switch sub-circuit 1021 may control the input terminal 101b of the other switch sub-circuit 1021 to be disconnected from the output terminal 1021c in response to the received second control signal. The target second electrode may move the droplet a from the area where the other second electrode is located to the area where the target second electrode is located after receiving the driving signal.

Optionally, each switch sub-circuit 1021 may include: transistor M0. The gate 1021a of the transistor M0 (the gate of the transistor M0 is the control terminal 1021a of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the controller 101, the source 1021b of the transistor M0 (the source of the transistor M0 is the input terminal 1021b of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the driving signal source 106, and the drain 1021c of the transistor M0 (the drain of the transistor M0 is the output terminal 1021c of the switch sub-circuit 1021) can be connected to the second electrode 105.

When the controller 101 provides the first control signal to the gate 1021a of the transistor M0, the transistor M0 may be turned on, and the driving signal of the driving signal source 106 may be transmitted to the second electrode 105. When the controller 101 provides the second control signal to the gate 1021a of the transistor M0, the transistor M0 may be turned off, and the driving signal of the driving signal source 106 cannot be transmitted to the second electrode 105.

It should be noted that, a plurality of droplets can be injected into the digital micro-flow control chip 10, and accordingly, the driving circuit 102 can provide driving signals to the plurality of second electrodes 105. The number of target second electrodes, which the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal, may be the same as the number of injected droplets in the digital micro-flow control chip 10. Therefore, the controller 101 can detect a plurality of target second electrodes at the same time, and the detection efficiency is further improved. Wherein any two of the plurality of target second electrodes are not adjacent.

Step 503, the controller sends the identification of each second electrode and the status information to the register.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the controller 101 provides the control signal to the driving circuit 102, the controller 101 determines which second electrodes 105 can be provided with the driving signal by the driving circuit 102, and which second electrodes 105 cannot be provided with the driving signal by the driving circuit 102. The controller 101 may then send the identity of each second electrode 105 and the status information to the register 107. Wherein the state information may be used to indicate whether the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal to the second electrode 105.

For example, if the driving circuit 102 is capable of providing a driving signal to a certain second electrode 105, the state information of the second electrode 105 may be 1. If the driving circuit 102 is not capable of providing a driving signal to a certain second electrode 105, the state information of the second electrode 105 may be 0.

Step 504, the register records the corresponding relation between the identification of each second electrode and the state information.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the identifier and the status information of every two second electrodes 105 sent by the controller 101, the register 107 may record the corresponding relationship between the identifier and the status information of every second electrode 105.

For example, it is assumed that the digital micro-flow control chip includes 3 second electrodes 105, and the driving circuit 102 is capable of providing a driving signal to the second electrode 105b of the 3 second electrodes 105, but is incapable of providing a driving signal to the first second electrode 105a and the third second electrode 105 c. Therefore, the register 107 can record the mark 1 and the state information 0 of the first second electrode 105a, record the mark 2 and the state information 1 of the second electrode 105b, and record the mark 3 and the state information 0 of the third second electrode 105 c.

In step 505, the controller 101 sends a detection signal to the impedance detection circuit 103.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may send a detection signal to the impedance detection circuit 103 within a time difference threshold valve range after the controller 101 provides a control signal to the drive circuit 102. The detection signal may be used to instruct the impedance detection circuit 103 to detect the impedance between each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104.

Further, since the time difference between the time when the controller 101 transmits the control signal to the drive circuit 102 and the time when the controller 101 transmits the detection signal to the impedance detection circuit 103 is within the time difference threshold range, the reliability of the detected impedance is high. Wherein the time difference threshold range may be 0.05s to 0.15 s. For example, the time difference between the time when the controller 101 transmits the control signal to the drive circuit 102 and the time when the detection signal is transmitted to the impedance detection circuit 103 is 0.1 s.

Step 506, the impedance detection circuit detects the impedance between each second electrode of the plurality of second electrodes and the first electrode according to the detection signal.

In the embodiment of the present application, the impedance detection circuit 103 may detect the impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104 according to the detection signal after receiving the detection signal sent by the controller 101. Thereafter, the impedance detection circuit 103 may send the plurality of impedances to the controller 101.

Wherein the impedance detection circuit 103 comprises a plurality of impedance detection sub-circuits 1031. Each impedance detection sub-circuit may be connected to one second electrode 105 for detecting an impedance between one second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104. Wherein each impedance detection sub-circuit 1031 may include: a voltage detector and a current detector. The voltage detector may be used to detect the voltage of the second electrode 105, and the current detector may be used to detect the current flowing through the second electrode 105. The impedance detection circuit 103 may determine the magnitude and phase of the detected current and voltage based on the current and voltage. The impedance between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 is then determined based on the amplitude and phase.

Step 507, the impedance detection circuit sends a plurality of impedances to the controller.

In the embodiment of the present application, the impedance detection circuit 103 may obtain a plurality of impedances after detecting the impedance between each of the plurality of second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104. Therefore, the impedance detection circuit 103 may send the obtained plurality of impedances to the controller 101, so that the controller 101 determines the position of the droplet according to the plurality of impedances.

And step 508, the controller reads the corresponding relation from the register, and determines the second electrode capable of receiving the driving signal from the plurality of second electrodes as the target second electrode according to the corresponding relation.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may determine which second electrodes 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 are the target second electrodes before detecting whether the target second electrodes have faults. Thus, the controller 101 may read the correspondence relationship from the register 107, and determine, as a target second electrode, a second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 to which the driving circuit 102 is supplied with the driving signal, according to the correspondence relationship.

Step 509, the controller determines at least one candidate electrode from the plurality of second electrodes based on the plurality of impedances.

In the embodiment of the present application, after the controller 101 receives the plurality of impedances transmitted by the impedance detection circuit 103, the second electrode 105 corresponding to the impedance having the impedance within the third impedance range may be determined as the candidate electrode. Wherein the upper limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to the upper limit of the second impedance range and less than or equal to the lower limit of the second impedance range. The lower limit of the third impedance range is greater than or equal to the upper limit of the first impedance range and less than or equal to the lower limit of the first impedance range.

The first impedance range is a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is located in the area having the droplet a under the condition that the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from faults. The second impedance range is a range of impedances between the second electrode 105 and the first electrode 104 when the second electrode 105 is located in a region without the droplet a under a condition that the second electrode 105 is determined to be free from a failure.

If the controller determines a candidate electrode from the plurality of second electrodes, the controller may determine the position of the candidate electrode as the position of the droplet, step 510.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the controller 101 determines one candidate electrode from the plurality of second electrodes 105, it indicates that only the area where the candidate electrode is located has a droplet, and the areas where the other electrodes except the candidate electrode are located do not have a droplet. Thus, the controller 101 may directly determine the position of the alternative electrode as the position of the droplet.

Alternatively, the position of the second electrode 105 may refer to a center position of the second electrode 105, and the position of the second electrode 105 may be represented by coordinates of a center point of the second electrode 105. And, the position of the droplet may refer to a center position of the droplet, and the position of the droplet may be represented by coordinates of a center point of the droplet.

It should be noted that, a plurality of droplets can be injected into the digital micro-flow control chip 10, and accordingly, the driving circuit 102 can provide driving signals to the plurality of second electrodes 105. The number of target second electrodes, which the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal, may be the same as the number of injected droplets in the digital micro-flow control chip 10. And, any two of the plurality of target second electrodes are not adjacent.

Thus, if the controller 101 identifies a plurality of candidate electrodes from the plurality of second electrodes 105, and the number of identified candidate electrodes is the same as the number of droplets, the controller 101 may determine the center position of one droplet from the center position of each candidate electrode.

In step 511, if the controller determines two candidate electrodes from the plurality of second electrodes, the controller may determine the position of the droplet according to the ratio of the impedances of the two candidate electrodes and the first electrode, and the positions of the two candidate electrodes.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the controller 101 determines two alternative electrodes from the plurality of second electrodes 105, it indicates that a part of the droplet a is located in the region of one second electrode 105, and another part is located in the region of another second electrode 105. Thus, the controller 101 can determine the position of the droplet a according to the ratio of the impedances between the two alternative electrodes and the first electrode 104, and the positions of the two alternative electrodes.

Alternatively, the distance between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the first candidate electrode along the target direction, and the ratio of the distance between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the second candidate electrode along the target direction may be equal to the ratio of the impedance between the second candidate electrode and the first electrode 104, and the impedance between the third candidate electrode and the first electrode 104. Wherein, the target direction may be a connecting line direction of the central positions of the two alternative electrodes.

Referring to fig. 9, the area where the first second electrode 105a is located does not have the droplet a, the area where the second electrode 105b is located and the area where the third second electrode 105c is located both have the droplet a, and a part of the droplet a is located in the area where the second electrode 105b is located, and another part is located in the area where the third second electrode 105c is located. The controller 101 may determine the second electrode 105b and the third second electrode 105c as alternative electrodes according to the three impedances of the three second electrodes 105 and the first electrode 104. The controller 101 may determine the center position of the droplet according to the ratio of the impedance of the second electrode 105b to the impedance of the third second electrode 105c, the center position of the second electrode 105b, and the center position of the third second electrode 105 c.

For example, assuming that the impedance of the second electrode 105b is Z31 and the impedance of the third second electrode 105c is Z32, the distance y1 between the center position a1 of the droplet a and the center position 105b1 of the second electrode 105b in the target direction X and the distance y2 between the center position a1 of the droplet a and the center position 105c1 of the third second electrode 105c in the target direction X satisfy: y1/y2 ═ Z32/Z31.

Referring to fig. 9, assuming that the impedance between the second electrode 105b and the first electrode 104 is equal to the impedance between the second electrode 105b and the first electrode 104, that is, the ratio of the impedance of the second electrode 105b to the impedance of the third second electrode 105c is 1, the center position a1 of the droplet a may coincide with the center positions of the two second electrodes 105 (the second electrode 105b and the third second electrode 105c), and the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the second electrode 105b may be equal to the area of the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the third second electrode 105 c. At this time, y1/y2 is Z32/Z31 is 1.

It should be noted that, a plurality of droplets can be injected into the digital micro-flow control chip 10, and accordingly, the driving circuit 102 can provide driving signals to the plurality of second electrodes 105. The number of target second electrodes, which the driving circuit 102 provides the driving signal, may be the same as the number of injected droplets in the digital micro-flow control chip 10. And, any two of the plurality of target second electrodes are not adjacent.

Thus, if the controller 101 determines a plurality of candidate electrodes from the plurality of second electrodes 105, and the number of the determined candidate electrodes is twice the number of droplets, the controller 101 may determine the center position of one droplet according to the impedance of each adjacent two candidate electrodes and the first electrode 104, and the center positions of the two candidate electrodes.

It should be noted that if the number of the candidate electrodes determined by the controller 101 from the plurality of second electrodes 105 is greater than the number of the droplets and less than twice the number of the droplets, it indicates that for some droplets, the candidate electrodes are located in the region of one second electrode 105, and for some droplets, a part of the candidate electrodes are located in the region of one second electrode 105, and another part of the candidate electrodes are located in the region of another second electrode 105. Therefore, the controller 101 may divide the determined candidate electrodes. If none of the candidate electrodes is around the candidate electrode, the controller 101 may determine the center position of one droplet a according to the center position of the candidate electrode. If there is one candidate electrode around a candidate electrode, the controller 101 may determine the center position of a droplet according to the impedances of the two candidate electrodes and the first electrode 104, and the center positions of the two candidate electrodes. If there are multiple candidate electrodes around a candidate electrode, the controller 101 may determine the candidate electrode closest to the candidate electrode, and determine the center position of a droplet according to the impedances of the two candidate electrodes and the first electrode 104, and the center positions of the two candidate electrodes.

In step 512, the controller detects whether the position of the droplet is located in the area of the target second electrode.

In the embodiment of the present application, the controller 101 may store the position and size of the target second electrode in advance. Also, the controller 101 may determine the area of the second electrode 105 based on the position and size of the target second electrode. Therefore, the controller 101 may determine whether the position of the droplet a is located in the area of the target second electrode according to the position of the droplet a determined in the above steps. Wherein, the shape and size of each second electrode 105 of the plurality of second electrodes 105 in the digital micro-flow control chip 10 can be the same.

The controller 101 may store a difference range in advance. The controller 101 determines whether the position of the droplet is in the area of the target second electrode according to whether the difference between the center position of the droplet and the center position of the target second electrode is within the range of the difference.

If the controller 101 determines that the difference is within the difference range, it indicates that the droplet a is located in the area of the target second electrode. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 513 described below; if the controller 101 determines that the difference is not within the range of the difference, it indicates that the position of the droplet a is not in the region of the target second electrode. At this time, the controller 101 may perform step 514 described below.

In the embodiment of the present application, the difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the target second electrode is determined. It is also possible to determine a difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the second electrode adjacent to the target second electrode, and to determine a ratio of the difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the target second electrode to the difference between the center position of the droplet a and the center position of the second electrode adjacent to the target second electrode. Wherein, the area of the second electrode adjacent to the target second electrode is provided with a liquid drop a. If the ratio is larger than a first ratio threshold, determining that the liquid drop is positioned in the area of the target second electrode; and if the ratio is smaller than a second ratio threshold value, determining that the liquid drop is positioned in the area where other second electrodes are positioned. Illustratively, the first ratio threshold and the second ratio threshold are reciprocal values. For example, the first ratio threshold may be 2 and the second ratio threshold may be 1/2.

Step 513, the controller determines that the target second electrode is not faulty.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the position of the droplet is located in the area of the target second electrode, the controller 101 may determine that the target second electrode has no fault.

For example, referring to fig. 8, since the central position of the droplet a is the central position of the second electrode 105b, if the second electrode 105b is the target second electrode, it can be determined that the droplet a is located in the area of the target second electrode, and thus it is determined that the target second electrode has no fault.

Step 514, the controller determines that the target second electrode is faulty.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the position of the droplet is not located in the area of the target second electrode, the controller 101 may determine that the target second electrode has a fault.

Referring to fig. 10, assuming that the second electrode 105b is the target second electrode, since the droplet a is located at the area where the second electrode 105b and the third second electrode 105c are located, and the orthographic projection of the droplet a on the second electrode 105b is the same as the orthographic projection on the third second electrode 105 b. That is, y1/(y1+ y2) — 1/2>1/3, the controller 101 can determine that the target second electrode has a failure.

It should be noted that, after detecting the target second electrode, the controller 101 may send the control signal to the driving circuit 102 again, and the driving circuit 102 may further provide the driving signal to the new target second electrode according to the control signal to detect the new target second electrode. If the control signal sent by the controller 101 to the driving circuit 102 is the same as the control signal sent in the last detection, it indicates that the target second electrode to be detected this time is the target second electrode detected by the controller 101 last time, and the controller 101 may not need to detect the target second electrode. If the control signal sent by the controller 101 to the driving circuit 102 is different from the control signal sent at the previous detection, it is described that the target second electrode to be detected this time is different from the target second electrode detected by the controller 101 at the previous time, and the controller 101 can detect the new target second electrode.

Moreover, the controller 101 may also send the identifiers and the state information of the plurality of second electrodes during the current detection to the register 107, so that the register 107 records the correspondence between the identifiers and the state information of the second electrodes.

It should be further noted that the order of the steps of the fault detection method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be appropriately adjusted, and the steps may also be increased or decreased according to the situation. For example, step 504 can be performed simultaneously with step 501, and step 508 can be performed before step 505, and any method that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present disclosure is covered by the protection scope of the present disclosure, and thus, the description thereof is omitted.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a fault detection method, which can drive a droplet injected into a digital micro-flow control chip to move to an area where a target second electrode is located in a plurality of second electrodes, detect impedance between each second electrode and a first electrode in the plurality of second electrodes, drive a position of the droplet according to the impedance, and finally determine whether the target second electrode has a fault according to whether the droplet is located in the area where the target second electrode is located.

The embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the fault detection method of the digital micro-flow control chip provided by the above method embodiment, for example, the method shown in fig. 11 to 14.

The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product containing instructions, which, when the instructions contained in the computer program product are run on the computer, cause the computer to execute the method for detecting a fault of the digital micro-flow control chip provided in the above method embodiments, for example, the method shown in fig. 11 to 14.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps of implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by operating the relevant hardware by a program, where the program is stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the above-mentioned storage medium may be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

The above description is only exemplary of the present application and should not be taken as limiting, as any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.