Microgrooves Enhanced AC Electrothermal Pumping for High Conductivity Microfluids

This paper presents utilization of microgrooved structure in enhancing manipulation of high conductivity fluids with alternating current (AC) electrothermal mechanism with low electric voltage requirement (<10 V ). Two manipulation modes including bidirectional pumping and stationary state can be achieved by changing the electric frequency. Numerical simulations are performed and the effects on electrothermal driven fluid motion in grooved surface structure are investigated. The pumping capacity of several grooved profiles of rectangular, trapezoid and hybrid trapezoid are analyzed and compared. The theoretical analysis as well as the numerical simulation indicates that electrothermal driven micropumping and temperature rise can be controlled in these structures for optimum operations.