阅读说明：本技术 一种电渗微泵装置及电渗微泵装置组 (Electroosmosis micropump device and electroosmosis micropump device set ) 是由 张仁昌 杨倩 李良 陈文� 高猛 叶乐 于 2020-12-17 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请提供一种电渗微泵装置及电渗微泵装置组。其中,电渗微泵装置包括：电渗驱动层和绝缘涂层,所述电渗驱动层分别为上、下电渗驱动层；每个电渗驱动层,包括金属片和薄膜层,薄膜层分别为包裹在金属片上、下表面的内薄膜层和外薄膜层；两内薄膜层相互粘合；金属片上分布有电极孔阵列,薄膜层上分布有电渗驱动微通道阵列,绝缘涂层涂覆在电渗驱动微通道和电极孔的内壁；电渗驱动微通道分为外电渗驱动微通道和内电渗驱动微通道,上、下电渗驱动层中的金属片通过电极引线分别与外界电源的正负极连接后,在电渗驱动微通道内会产生电场。本电渗微泵装置具有结构简单、紧凑,易制作,集成度高、尺寸小,高流量和高泵压等优点。(The application provides an electroosmosis micropump device and an electroosmosis micropump device set. Wherein, the electroosmosis micropump device includes: the electroosmosis driving layer is an upper electroosmosis driving layer and a lower electroosmosis driving layer respectively; each electroosmosis driving layer comprises a metal sheet and a thin film layer, wherein the thin film layers are an inner thin film layer and an outer thin film layer which are wrapped on the upper surface and the lower surface of the metal sheet respectively; the two inner film layers are mutually bonded; an electrode hole array is distributed on the metal sheet, an electroosmosis driving micro-channel array is distributed on the film layer, and the insulating coating is coated on the electroosmosis driving micro-channel and the inner wall of the electrode hole; the electroosmosis driving microchannel is divided into an external electroosmosis driving microchannel and an internal electroosmosis driving microchannel, and after the metal sheets in the upper electroosmosis driving layer and the lower electroosmosis driving layer are respectively connected with the positive electrode and the negative electrode of an external power supply through electrode leads, an electric field can be generated in the electroosmosis driving microchannel. The electroosmosis micropump device has the advantages of simple and compact structure, easiness in manufacturing, high integration level, small size, high flow rate, high pumping pressure and the like.)

1. An electroosmotic micropump device, comprising: an electroosmotic driving layer and an insulating coating; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the number of the electroosmosis driving layers is two, and the electroosmosis driving layers are an upper electroosmosis driving layer and a lower electroosmosis driving layer respectively;

each electroosmosis driving layer comprises a metal sheet and a thin film layer, wherein the thin film layers are an inner thin film layer and an outer thin film layer which are wrapped on the upper surface and the lower surface of the metal sheet respectively; the inner thin film layer of the upper electroosmosis driving layer and the inner thin film layer of the lower electroosmosis driving layer are mutually bonded;

an electrode hole array is distributed on the metal sheet, an electroosmosis driving micro-channel array is distributed on the thin film layer, and the insulating coating is coated on the electroosmosis driving micro-channel and the inner wall of the electrode hole;

the electroosmosis driving microchannel is divided into an outer electroosmosis driving microchannel and an inner electroosmosis driving microchannel, the inner electroosmosis driving microchannel is distributed on the inner thin film layer, and the outer electroosmosis driving microchannel is distributed on the outer thin film layer.

2. The electroosmotic micropump device of claim 1, wherein said metal sheet is made of stainless steel, platinum, titanium, or platinum-iridium alloy.

3. The electroosmotic micropump device of claim 1, wherein said metal sheet has a thickness in the range of 10 to 1000 micrometers.

4. The electroosmotic micropump device according to claim 1, wherein said membrane layer and said insulating coating are made of insulating materials, and said insulating materials are polydimethylsiloxane, polymethylmethacrylate, polycarbonate, polytetrafluoroethylene or silica gel.

5. The electroosmotic micropump device of claim 1, wherein said electroosmotic driving microchannel and said electrode apertures are equal in number and aligned one to one.

6. The electroosmotic micropump device of claim 5, wherein said electroosmotic driving microchannel and said electrode aperture are identical in shape.

7. The electroosmotic micropump device of claim 6, wherein said shape is cylindrical or conical.

8. The electroosmotic micropump device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a power supply module, both ends of which are connected to the metal sheets in the upper and lower electroosmotic driving layers, respectively, through electrode leads.

9. An electroosmotic micropump device set, comprising:

at least two electroosmotic micropump devices according to any one of claims 1 to 8 in parallel; and

an isolation ring arranged between two adjacent electroosmosis micro-pump devices;

wherein the electroosmotic micropump device generates electroosmotic flow with the same flow direction.

10. The electroosmotic micropump device assembly of claim 9, wherein said spacer ring has a thickness at least 20 times greater than a thickness of said inner membrane layer.

11. An electroosmotic micropump device set according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the isolating ring is made of an insulating material, and the insulating material is polydimethylsiloxane, polymethylmethacrylate, polycarbonate, polytetrafluoroethylene or silica gel.

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of micro-flow control, in particular to an electroosmosis micropump device and an electroosmosis micropump device set.

Background

Microfluidic technology is characterized by the manipulation of fluids, such as changing the flow velocity and direction of fluids, or mixing different types of fluids, within microchannels in order to achieve complex and diverse biochemical reactions. Micropumps are indispensable power sources in microfluidic chips, and are used to drive the flow of fluids in microchannels. In addition, in implantable or subcutaneous drug delivery systems, the micropump may serve as a core element for controlling the amount of drug delivered and the period of administration.

The micro pump may be classified into an electrical type, a mechanical type, and a pneumatic type according to a principle. The electric micropump mainly comprises an electroosmosis micropump and an electromagnetic micropump. An electroosmotic micropump is an electrically controlled microfluid driven pump based on electroosmotic flow. When microfluid enters a micro-channel in a micro-pump, an electric double layer is formed at a solid-liquid interface on the wall surface of the micro-channel, when an electrode loads a parallel electric field along the direction of the micro-channel, the electric double layer on the wall surface of the micro-channel generates shear migration under the action of the electric field force to form an electroosmosis driving force, and the driving force directly acts on the nearby microfluid to drive the nearby microfluid to flow so as to form electroosmosis flow.

Compared with other types of micropumps, the electroosmotic micropump is generally simple in structure and easy to integrate with other microfluidic elements, and can improve the integration level of a microfluidic chip and reduce the size of a microfluidic system. And the control of the electroosmosis micropump is realized by changing the size and the on-off of voltage, and the electroosmosis micropump and other micro-nano electronic elements can jointly form an automatic control system.

Electroosmotic micropumps can be classified into contact type and non-contact type according to whether the working electrode is in direct contact with the fluid. The electrodes of the non-contact electroosmotic micropump are separated from the fluid by an insulating film, so that cross contamination between the fluid and the electrodes can be avoided, the service life of the electrodes can be prolonged, and contamination of the fluid (such as a drug) can be avoided. However, the insulating film will weaken the electric field strength generated by the electrodes and reduce the electroosmotic effect in the microchannel. The pump pressure of the electroosmotic micropump is relatively small compared to mechanical and pneumatic micropumps. When the outlet pressure of the microchannel is higher, the electroosmotic micropump usually needs higher working voltage to drive the fluid flow, such as more than 1 kV. High voltages are typically generated by high voltage generators, which not only add complexity to microfluidic systems, but also do not meet safety requirements for some microfluidic systems (e.g., implantable drug delivery systems).

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide an electroosmotic micro-pump device and an electroosmotic micro-pump device set, which can solve at least one of the above problems.

A first aspect of the present application provides an electroosmotic micropump device comprising:

an electroosmotic driving layer and an insulating coating; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the number of the electroosmosis driving layers is two, and the electroosmosis driving layers are an upper electroosmosis driving layer and a lower electroosmosis driving layer respectively;

each electroosmosis driving layer comprises a metal sheet and a thin film layer, wherein the thin film layers are an inner thin film layer and an outer thin film layer which are wrapped on the upper surface and the lower surface of the metal sheet respectively; the inner thin film layer of the upper electroosmosis driving layer and the inner thin film layer of the lower electroosmosis driving layer are mutually bonded;

an electrode hole array is distributed on the metal sheet, an electroosmosis driving micro-channel array is distributed on the thin film layer, and the insulating coating is coated on the electroosmosis driving micro-channel and the inner wall of the electrode hole;

the electroosmosis driving microchannel is divided into an outer electroosmosis driving microchannel and an inner electroosmosis driving microchannel, the inner electroosmosis driving microchannel is distributed on the inner thin film layer, and the outer electroosmosis driving microchannel is distributed on the outer thin film layer.

In some embodiments of the present application, the metal sheet is made of stainless steel, platinum, titanium, or platinum-iridium alloy.

In some embodiments of the present application, the metal sheet has a thickness in a range of 10 to 1000 micrometers.

In some embodiments of the present application, the film layer and the insulating coating are made of insulating materials, and the insulating materials are polydimethylsiloxane, polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate, polytetrafluoroethylene or silica gel.

In some embodiments of the present application, the electroosmotic drive microchannel and the electrode apertures are equal in number and aligned one to one.

In some embodiments of the present application, the electroosmotic drive microchannel and the electrode aperture are the same shape.

In some embodiments of the present application, the shape is cylindrical or conical.

In some embodiments of the present application, the device further comprises a power module, and both ends of the power module are respectively connected with the metal sheets in the upper and lower electroosmotic driving layers through electrode leads.

A second aspect of the present application provides an electroosmotic micropump device set comprising:

at least two electroosmotic micropump devices as described in the first aspect connected in parallel; and

an isolation ring arranged between two adjacent electroosmosis micro-pump devices;

wherein the electroosmotic micropump device generates electroosmotic flow with the same flow direction.

In some embodiments of the present application, the spacer ring has a thickness that is at least 20 times the thickness of the inner membrane layer.

In some embodiments of the present application, the isolation ring is made of an insulating material, and the insulating material is polydimethylsiloxane, polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate, polytetrafluoroethylene, or silica gel.

Compared with the prior art, the electroosmosis micropump device and the electroosmosis micropump device set can avoid direct contact and cross contamination between the electrode and fluid, and have the advantages of simple and compact structure, easiness in manufacturing, high integration level, small size, high flow rate, high pump pressure and the like.

Drawings

Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the application. Also, like reference numerals are used to refer to like parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A shows a schematic view of the overall structure of an electroosmotic micropump device provided by the present application;

FIG. 1B shows a schematic of the structure of two electroosmotic driving layers that make up an electroosmotic micropump device;

FIG. 1C shows a schematic of the structure of a single electroosmotic driving layer;

FIG. 2A illustrates a top view of an electroosmotic micropump device provided herein;

FIG. 2B shows a schematic cross-sectional view along line A-A of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C shows a partial enlarged view of portion B of FIG. 2B;

FIG. 3A illustrates a top view of an electroosmotic micropump device package provided herein;

FIG. 3B shows a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 3C shows an exploded view of the electroosmotic micropump device set of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 shows a potential equivalent diagram of a set of four-level electroosmotic micropump devices;

reference numerals:

10 an electroosmotic micropump device; an electro-osmotic driving layer 21; 22 a lower electroosmotic driving layer; 30 thin film layers; 31 an outer film layer; 32 inner film layers; 40 a metal sheet; 51 external electroosmotic driving micro-channel; 52 an electroosmotic driven microchannel; 60 electrode holes; 70 an insulating coating; 80 electroosmotic micropump device set; 90 isolating the rings.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

It is to be noted that, unless otherwise specified, technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by those skilled in the art to which this application belongs.

In addition, the terms "first" and "second", etc. are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a particular order. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

In the present application, in order to increase the driving force of the non-contact electroosmotic micropump, the thickness of the insulating film is reduced or a plurality of electroosmotic micropumps are integrated by optimizing the manufacturing process. The smaller the thickness of the insulating film is, the larger the effective electric field intensity generated by the electrode is under the same voltage, namely the larger the driving force of the electroosmotic micropump is.

The integration of the electroosmosis micropump has two modes, namely, a plurality of identical electroosmosis microchannels are directly integrated, and the flow of the micropump is improved by increasing the number of the electroosmosis microchannels; and secondly, an electroosmosis microchannel array is used as a unit, a plurality of arrays are integrated, and the flow rate and the pumping pressure of the micro pump are improved by increasing the number of the arrays.

To further illustrate aspects of embodiments of the present application, reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that, in the following embodiments, the same or corresponding contents may be mutually referred to, and for simplicity and convenience of description, the subsequent descriptions are not repeated.

The embodiments of the present application provide an electroosmotic micropump device and an electroosmotic micropump device set, which are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 1A to 1C, fig. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall structure of an electroosmotic micropump device provided by the present application; FIG. 1B shows a schematic of the structure of two electroosmotic driving layers that make up an electroosmotic micropump device; figure 1C shows a schematic of the structure of a single electroosmotic driving layer.

As shown in fig. 1A, an electroosmotic micropump device 10 provided by the present application, the electroosmotic micropump device 10 includes: an electroosmotic driving layer and an insulating coating 70.

As shown in fig. 1B, the number of electroosmotic driving layers in the electroosmotic micro-pump device 10 is two, namely, an upper electroosmotic driving layer 21 and a lower electroosmotic driving layer 22.

As shown in fig. 1C, each of the electroosmotic driving layers, i.e., the upper electroosmotic driving layer 21 and the lower electroosmotic driving layer 22, includes a metal sheet 40 and a thin film layer 30, and the thin film layers 30 are an inner thin film layer 32 and an outer thin film layer 31 respectively wrapped on the upper surface and the lower surface of the metal sheet 40; the inner thin film layer 32 of the upper electro-osmotic driving layer 21 and the inner thin film layer 32 of the lower electro-osmotic driving layer 22 are bonded to each other.

As shown in fig. 1C, an array of electrode holes 60 is distributed on the metal sheet 40, and an array of electroosmotic driving microchannels is distributed on the membrane layer 30.

The electroosmotic drive microchannels and electrode apertures 60 are equal in number and aligned one to one.

The electroosmotic driving microchannel and the electrode hole 60 have the same shape, and may have a cylindrical or conical shape, for example.

The electroosmosis driving microchannel is divided into an external electroosmosis driving microchannel 51 and an internal electroosmosis driving microchannel 52, the internal electroosmosis driving microchannel 52 is distributed on the inner thin film layer 32, and the external electroosmosis driving microchannel 51 is distributed on the outer thin film layer 31.

Referring to fig. 2A to 2C, fig. 2A shows a top view of an electroosmotic micropump device provided by the present application; FIG. 2B shows a schematic cross-sectional view along line A-A of FIG. 2A; fig. 2C shows a partially enlarged view of a portion B in fig. 2B.

As shown in fig. 2C, an insulating coating 70 is coated on the inner walls of the electroosmotic driving microchannel and the electrode hole 60;

as shown in fig. 2C, the upper electro-osmotic driving layer 21 and the lower electro-osmotic driving layer 22 may be integrally encapsulated using an oxygen plasma or a thermal compression process to bond the inner thin film layer of the upper electro-osmotic driving layer 21 and the inner thin film layer of the lower electro-osmotic driving layer 22. At this time, the micro-channel between the two metal sheets 40 in the upper electro-osmotic driving layer 21 and the lower electro-osmotic driving layer 22 constitutes an intra-electro-osmotic driving micro-channel, and the micro-channel on the other side of the two metal sheets 40 constitutes an extra-electro-osmotic driving micro-channel.

According to some embodiments of the present application, the electroosmotic micropump device 10 may further include a power supply module, and both ends of the power supply module are connected to the metal sheets in the upper and lower electroosmotic driving layers 21 and 22, respectively, through electrode leads. The power module can be placed in vivo or in vitro in practical application.

The operation principle of the electroosmotic micropump device 10 of the present embodiment for driving a fluid is: after the metal sheets 40 in the upper and lower electroosmosis driving layers are respectively connected with the positive and negative electrodes of the power module through the electrode leads, an electric field is generated in the two inner electroosmosis driving microchannels 52. When the microchannel is filled with a fluid, the electroosmosis phenomenon occurs in the electroosmosis driving microchannel 52 under the action of the electric field, and the fluid flows. At this time, the two electroosmotic driving microchannels 51 generate pressure flows.

Three factors influence the driving force of the micro pump, namely the thickness of the inner thin film layer. The greater the thickness of the inner film layer, the smaller the effective electric field strength generated by the electrode and the smaller the driving force of electroosmosis.

Thus, the present application can produce an inner film layer that is at least 20 microns thick. The second is the number of microchannels per unit area. The greater the number of microchannels per unit area, the stronger the driving force of the micropump. The aperture of the micro-channel can be 10 microns, the hole center distance is 20 microns, namely at least 20 ten thousand micro-channels in the area of 1 square centimeter, and the driving force of the electroosmosis micro-pump on the fluid can be greatly improved by the integration of the high-density micro-channels. And thirdly, the thickness of the insulating coating is smaller, the effect of the insulating coating on the field intensity reduction of the electric field is poorer, and the driving force of electroosmosis is larger. The insulating coating with the thickness of 5-500 microns can be manufactured, the insulating coating can block direct contact between the electrode and fluid, and the fluid can be prevented from being subjected to electric hydrolysis and cross contamination between the electrode and the fluid. The electroosmosis micropump device is manufactured by adopting a micromachining process.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the thin film layer 30 is made of an insulating material, and the insulating material has fluidity before being cured, such as Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Polycarbonate (PC), Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), silicone, and the like. Taking PDMS as an example, the PDMS solution has good fluidity at normal temperature before being cured, and can be spin-coated to form a film. Then baked at high temperature (e.g., 65 ℃ C. for 2.5 hours), the PDMS will cure into a film with some deformation.

According to some embodiments of the present application, the metal sheet 40 is made of stainless steel, platinum, titanium, or platinum-iridium alloy, and has a thickness in the micrometer range, and the metal sheet 40 has a thickness in the range of 10 to 1000 micrometers.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the insulating coating 70 is made of an insulating material, and the insulating material has fluidity before being cured, such as Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Polycarbonate (PC), Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), silicone, and the like. The material of the insulating coating 70 and the material of the thin film layer 30 may be the same or different.

The above-mentioned electric osmosis micropump device that this application embodiment provided, the drive power of electric osmosis micropump to the fluid can greatly be promoted in the microchannel integration of high density, and insulating coating has blockked the direct contact of electrode with the fluid, can avoid the fluid to take place the cross contamination between electric hydrolysis and electrode and fluid, has simple structure, compactness moreover, easy preparation, and the integrated level is high, the size is little, advantages such as high flow and high pump pressure.

In the above embodiments, an electroosmotic micropump device is provided, and correspondingly, an electroosmotic micropump device set is also provided in the present application, and the relevant points can be found in the partial description of the embodiments of the electroosmotic micropump device.

Referring to fig. 3A to 3C, fig. 3A shows a top view of an electroosmotic micropump device set provided by the present application; FIG. 3B shows a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 3A; figure 3C shows an exploded view of the electroosmotic micropump device set shown in figure 3A.

As shown in fig. 3A, an electroosmotic micro-pump device set 80 provided by the present application, the electroosmotic micro-pump device set 80 includes:

at least two of the electroosmotic micropump devices 10 of the above embodiments connected in parallel; and

an isolation ring 90 provided between two adjacent electroosmotic micropump devices 10;

wherein the electroosmotic micropump device 10 generates electroosmotic flow having the same flow direction.

Specifically, the electroosmotic micro-pump device set 80 as shown in FIG. 3C includes four electroosmotic micro-pump devices 10 and three spacer rings 90. There is a spacer ring 90 between each two electroosmotic micropump devices 10. The isolation ring 90 and the electroosmotic micropump device 10 can be bonded by an oxygen plasma surface treatment process, a hot pressing process, an adhesion process, or the like.

The working principle of the electroosmotic micropump device set 80 driving fluid in the embodiment is as follows: FIG. 4 shows an equivalent potential diagram of a four-stage electroosmotic micropump device set, and the potential of two metal sheets of each stage electroosmotic micropump device 10 is U_hAnd U_lAnd the potential decreasing direction of each stage of the electroosmotic micro-pump device 10 is the same. Wherein, U_h>U_l. In this case, the electroosmotic micro-pump device 10 of each stage generates electroosmotic flow in the same direction, and the electroosmotic effect is superimposed, thereby increasing the flow rate and the pump pressure of the electroosmotic micro-pump. However, there will be a potential difference between each stage of the electroosmotic micro-pump device 10, and electroosmotic flow will also occur in the electroosmotic driven micro-flow channel. The flow direction is opposite to the electroosmotic flow direction in the electroosmotic driving micro-channel. Thus, electroosmotic flow within an external electroosmotic driven microchannel attenuates the electroosmotic driving force of the electroosmotic micro-pump set. In order to reduce the electroosmotic effect in the external electroosmosis-driven microchannel, the electric field intensity generated between each stage of electroosmotic micropump apparatus 10 can be reduced by increasing the thickness of the isolation ring 90.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the isolation ring 90 is made of an insulating material, such as siloxane (PDMS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Polycarbonate (PC), Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), silicone, or the like.

According to some embodiments of the present application, the thickness of the spacer ring 90 is much greater than the thickness of the inner film layer, at least 20 times the thickness of the inner film layer.

The electroosmosis micropump device set provided by the embodiment of the application integrates the plurality of single-stage electroosmosis micropumps by adopting a micromachining process, realizes the parallel connection of the electroosmosis micropumps, and can improve the flow rate and the pump pressure of fluid pumped by the electroosmosis micropumps, so that the electroosmosis micropump device set has the advantages of simple and compact structure, easiness in manufacturing, high integration level, small size, high flow rate and high pump pressure and the like.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used for illustrating the technical solutions of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure should be construed as being covered by the claims and the specification.