Serpentine microfluidic mixer made in LTCC

Results of investigation of fluid flow, micro-scale mixing and reactive micromixing processes are presented for the serpentine and meander type micromixers. Two approaches are applied. In the first approach the CFD modelling is carried out for a steady-state, laminar flow and mixing of incompressible fluids through a sequence of conduits with rectangular cross-section, and in the second approach the mixing sensitive system of chemical reactions based on simultaneous diazo-coupling between 1- and 2-naphthols is used to characterize experimentally mixing efficiency in the microreactors.Using both approaches the influence of flow conditions upon mixing efficiency in a microdevice is studied. On the grounds of the CFD simulations a prototype I-shaped serpentine micromixer is designed and fabricated in LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics) technology and its performance is compared with performance of the meander micromixer. Results of numerical simulations are experimentally verified by comparison with the selectivity of complex test reactions carried out in micromixers. The method for ranking and comparing mixers based on mixing efficiency that is determined by using complex test reactions is proposed.