Design of microfluidic distributor with the ability to monitor blockage

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K18264
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Reaction engineering/Process system
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Tonomura Osamu 京都大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (70402956)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: マイクロリアクタ / モニタリング / 閉塞検出 / 流体分配 / 設計 / センサ配置 / 最適化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to realize mass production using microreactors, it is important to develop not only a method for realizing uniform flow distribution among the parallelized microreactors but also their monitoring method. The purpose of this study was design of microfluidic distribution devices with a function of detecting blocked microreactors. Given the number of reactors, the number of blockages, the fluid distribution structure, the throughput, and the number of sensors, the channel resistances and sensor locations in the microfluidic distribution device are optimized so as to achieve equal flow distribution under the normal condition and maximize the blockage detection performance under the abnormal condition. The effectiveness of the developed method and device is verified through both experiment and simulation.

Free Research Field

プロセスシステム工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

マイクロ化学プロセスの最大の課題である閉塞を検出・診断できる機能を備えた装置並列化（ナンバリングアップ）による生産量増大いう考え方は他に類を見ない本研究の特色である。その実用に向けて流体分配構造・流路抵抗・センサ位置の最適化を図るアルゴリズムを開発した点は社会的に意義深く，また，計測や制御のし易さを評価に加えた装置設計に取り組んだ本研究は学術的にも極めて意義深い。