Optimal homogenization of perfusion flows in microfluidic bio-reactors: a numerical study.

In recent years, the interest in small-scale bio-reactors has increased dramatically. To ensure homogeneous conditions within the complete area of perfused microfluidic bio-reactors, we develop a general design of a continually feed bio-reactor with uniform perfusion flow. This is achieved by introd...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fridolin Okkels, Martin Dufva, Henrik Bruus
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3029276?pdf=render
Description
Summary:In recent years, the interest in small-scale bio-reactors has increased dramatically. To ensure homogeneous conditions within the complete area of perfused microfluidic bio-reactors, we develop a general design of a continually feed bio-reactor with uniform perfusion flow. This is achieved by introducing a specific type of perfusion inlet to the reaction area. The geometry of these inlets are found using the methods of topology optimization and shape optimization. The results are compared with two different analytic models, from which a general parametric description of the design is obtained and tested numerically. Such a parametric description will generally be beneficial for the design of a broad range of microfluidic bioreactors used for, e.g., cell culturing and analysis and in feeding bio-arrays.
ISSN:1932-6203