Microscale engine driven by Marangoni convection for medical applications

• Project/Area Number: 26630073
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Thermal engineering
• Research Institution: Shibaura Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: TANGE Manabu 芝浦工業大学, 工学部, 准教授 (70549584)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
• Keywords: マランゴニ対流 / 微細加工 / 医療用ロボット / マイクロロボット / 表面張力 / 濃度差マランゴニ / 泳動デバイス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Some medical and biological applications have been expecting small scale robots migrating under water to move to their targets. This study proposes a novel microscale swimming device powered by Marangoni flow. The engine is composed of 3 thin disks of 3 mm in diameter with a hole bonded together. The middle disk has a larger hole than the outer disks' hole and a thin gap between the outer disks holds air bubbles to cover the hole edge with gas-liquid interface. Nonuniform surface tension on the interface due to temperature or contaminant difference pulls the liquid through the hole. The device is driven in the opposite direction by the reaction force of the liquid flow. In the experiment, the device hanged with a thin wire was immersed in a pure water pool with PIV particles. Surface tension gradient was realized with contaminant difference by injecting acetic acid solution toward one side of the hole. The device successfully produced jet through the hole to propel the device.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Microscale engine swimming underwater powered by Marangoni convection (2016)
  • Author(s): M. Tange, S. Takizawa, Y. Nagira, T. Yoshida
  • Journal Title: Journal of Thermal Science and Technology Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: JTST0046-JTST0046
  • DOI: 10.1299/jtst.2016jtst0046
  • NAID: 130005252738
  • ISSN: 1880-5566
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] MICROSCALE SWIMMING ENGINE POWERED BY MARANGONI CONVECTION (2016)
  • Author(s): YOSHIDA, T., SASAKI, R., NAGIRA, Y., TANGE, M.
  • Organizer: The first Pacific Rim Thermal Engineering Conference; PRTEC-14911; 2016
  • Place of Presentation: Hawaii, USA
  • Year and Date: 2016-03-16
  • Int'l Joint Research