Microscale engine driven by Marangoni convection for medical applications

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• 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
• Keywords: マランゴニ対流 / 微細加工 / 医療用ロボット

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.

Free Research Field

伝熱工学