B. Mathew

Fabrication and testing of a CoNiCu/Cu CPP-GMR nanowire-based microfluidic biosensor

Giant magneto resistance (GMR)-based microfluidic biosensors are used in applications involving the detection, analysis, enumeration and characterization of magnetic nano-particles attached to biological mediums such as antibodies and DNA. Here we introduce a novel multilayered CoNiCu/Cu nanowire GMR-based microfluidic biosensor. The current perpendicular to the plane of multilayers (CPP)-nanowires GMR was used as the core sensing material in the biosensor which responds to magnetic fields depending on the concentration and the flow velocity of bio-nano-magnetic fluids. The device was tested with different control solutions such as DI-water, mineral oil, phosphate buffered saline (PBS), ferrofluid, polystyrene superparamagnetic beads (PSB) and Dynabeads sheep anti-rabbit IgG. The nanowire array resistance decreased with an increase in the ferrofluid concentration, and a maximum 15.8% relative GMR was observed for the undiluted ferrofluid. The sensor was also responding differently to various ferrofluid flow rates. The GMR device showed variation in the output signal when the PSB and Dynabeads of different dilutions were pumped through it. When the tests were performed with pulsing potentials (150 mV and 200 mV), an increased GMR response was identified at higher voltages for PSB and Dynabeads sheep anti-rabbit IgG.

Performance of Counterflow Microchannel Heat Exchangers Subjected to External Heat Transfer

This article analyzes the effect of external heat transfer on the thermal performance of counterflow microchannel heat exchangers. Equations for predicting the axial temperature and the effectiveness of both fluids as well as the heat transferred between the fluids, while operating under external heating or cooling conditions, are provided in this article. External heating may decrease and increase the effectiveness of the hot and cold fluids, respectively. External cooling may improve and degrade the effectiveness of the hot and cold fluids, respectively. For unbalanced flows, the thermal performance of the microchannel heat exchanger subjected to external heat transfer depends on the fluid with the lowest heat capacity. At a particular number of transfer units (NTU), the effectiveness of both the fluids increased with decrease in heat capacity ratio when the hot fluid had the lowest heat capacity. When the cold fluid had the lowest heat capacity, the effectiveness of both fluids increased with decrease in heat capacity ratio at low values of NTU but at high values of NTU the effectiveness increased with increase in heat capacity ratio. A term called the “performance factor” has been introduced in this article to assess the relative change in effectiveness due to external heat transfer.

Characteristic Study on the Optimization of Pin-Fin Micro Heat Sink

The need for dissipating heat from microsystems has increased drastically in the last decade. Several methods of heat dissipation using air and liquids have been proposed by many studies, and pin-fin micro heat sinks are one among them. Researchers have developed several effective pin-fin structures for use in heat sinks, but not much effort has been taken towards the optimization of profile and dimensions of the pin-fin. In this paper the authors studied the effect of different pin-fin shapes on the thermal resistance and pressure drop in a specific micro heat-sink. Optimization subjected to two different constraints is studied in this paper. The first optimization is subjected to constant flow rate and the second one is subjected to constant pressure drop. Both optimization processes are carried out using computer simulations generated using COVENTORWARE™. Two of the best structures from each of these optimization studies are selected and further analysis is performed for optimizing their structure dimensions such as width, height and length. A section of the total micro heat-sink is modeled for the initial optimization of the pin-fin shape. The model consists of two sections, the substrate and the fluid. Six different shapes: square, circle, rectangle, triangle, oval and rhombus were analyzed in the initial optimization study. Preliminary tests were conducted using the first model described above for a flow rate of 0.6ml/min. The non dimensional overall thermal resistance of the heat sink, and the nondimensional pumping power was calculated from the results. A figure of merit (FOM) was developed using the nondimensional thermal resistance and nondimensional pumping power for each structure with different pin-fin shapes. Smaller the value of FOM better the performance of the heat sink. The study revealed that the circle and ellipse structures have the best performance and the rectangle structure had the worst performance at low flow rates. At high flow rates rectangular and square structures have the best performance.© 2009 ASME

Experimental Validation of a Thermal Model of Counterflow Microchannel Heat Exchangers Subjected to External Heat Flux

The effect of uniform external heat flux on the effectiveness of counterflow microchannel heat exchangers is experimentally studied in this article for validating an existing thermal model. The model validated in this study is a one-dimensional model previously developed by the same authors. The model is validated to be independent of microchannel profile, hydraulic diameter, and heat capacity ratio. For studying the effect of microchannel profile, experiments are conducted under balanced flow conditions using trapezoidal and triangular microchannels with approximately equal hydraulic diameter of 278.5 μm and 279.8 μm, respectively. The influence of hydraulic diameter on the thermal model is studied using a trapezoidal microchannel with hydraulic diameter of 231 μm and 278.5 μm. Experiments are conducted under unbalanced flow conditions, with a heat capacity ratio of 0.5, using the trapezoidal microchannel of hydraulic diameter of 278.5 μm. Deionized water is used as the fluid in all experiments. The hot and cold fluid effectiveness is studied and the theoretical predictions and experimental results are found to be in excellent agreement. Thus, the model validated in this article can be used for accurately modeling microchannel heat exchangers irrespective of the microchannel hydraulic diameter, profile, and heat capacity ratio.

Characteristic Study on the Optimization of Micro PinFin Heat Sink with Staggered Arrangement

The effect of the Pinfin shapes on the overall per formance of the micro Pinfin heat sink with staggered arrangement is studied in this paper. Six different shapes of micro Pinfins, square, rectangle, circle, rhombus, triangle and ellipse are subjected to study in this paper. The optimization processes are carried out using computer simulations performed using COVE*TORWARE™. The study is carried out over a range of Reynolds number ranging from 50 to 500 and a figure of merit term (FOM) consisting of both the thermal resistance and the pumping power is developed for the overall performance evaluation of different models. A weighted average scheme is used for developing the FOM term. The results of the study revealed that at low values of Reynolds numbers (Re 200) rectangle showed the best performance. *omenclature C = specific heat capacity (J/kg K) h = total height of the heat sink (m) k = thermal conductivity (W/K m) L = length of the heat sink (m) n = constant P = pressure (N/m 2 )

Microfabrication of nanowires-based GMR biosensor

This study focuses on the development of current-perpendicular-to plane (CPP) Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) of CoNiCu/Cu multilayered nanowire based microfluidic sensors for the detection of magnetic nanoparticles and fluids. The visible measurable variations in electrical voltage due to changes in external magnetic field are later to be monitored in microfluidic biosensor for the detection of toxicants in cells. An early prototype device was fabricated and tested using both an aqueous nonmagnetic medium (water) and a commercially available ferrofluid solution. A magnetic field of 0.01T caused a resistance change of 1.37% for ferrofluid, while a 1.1% GMR was recorded for the water baseline.

Simulation Based Optimization of Microfluidic Devices Used for Molecular Enrichment

Microfluidic devices are used in several engineering fields ranging from biomedical to chemical to engineering for applications such as micro reactor, target molecular enriching and cell capturing. With regard to related applications, microfluidic devices offer advantages such as high surface area to volume ratio, increased mass transfer coefficient and portability in addition to their requirement of low analytes. Affinity based microfluidic devices with microscale posts have high compactness and mass transfer coefficient. In order to maximize the benefits offered by employing microfluidic devices, it is important to apply parametric study in the device designing work. This study is aimed at studying the operating and geometric parameters of microfluidic devices with square/rectangular microscale posts. The geometric parameters, such as aspect ratio of the microposts used, could possibly decide the performance of the device. Operating parameters studied are Reynolds number, Peclet number, Damkohler number, and equilibrium reaction constant. These parameters encompass the influence of velocity, diffusivity, density, viscosity, hydraulic diameter, inlet concentration of species and absorption/desorption reaction constants.This work theoretically analyzes the influence of the above mentioned parameters using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2.a. The governing equations of microfluidic devices, i.e. Navier-Stokes equations and the advection-diffusion equation, subjected to the above mentioned operating parameters, are solved to obtain the velocity profile, pressure drop and concentration profile of the species. The metric used for analyzing the influence of each operating parameter is the capture efficiency, i.e. the ratio of outlet concentration to inlet concentration as well the pressure drop. The results of this study would improve the design of microfluidic devices used for chemical reactions as well as that used for protein enrichment.Copyright

Multi Layer Micro Pin-Fins Heat Sinks for Better Performance

This study numerically investigates the feasibility and advantages of using a multilayer pin-fin heat sink to increase the overall performance of the heat sink. For the purpose of determining overall performance of the pin-fin heat sink a figure of merit (FOM) term is introduced in this paper, which constituted of both the thermal resistance and the pumping power of the heat sink. Higher the FOM of a heat sink better is its overall performance. A computational fluid dynamics software CoventorWARE™ is used for the analysis of micro heat sink performance. A small portion of the entire heat sink is modeled in this study assuming repeatability towards both sides for the ease of analysis. The developed models consist of two sections, the substrate (silicon) and the fluid (water at 278K). A uniform heat flux is applied to the base of the heat sink. A single layer micro pin-fin heat sinks with same dimensions as of the multi layer heat sink was also modeled for the comparison purpose. Temperature distribution at five different locations from the inlet to the outlet section is also analyzed to study the temperature distribution over the heat sink. Circular pin-fins were used in both the multilayer and single layer micro heat sinks. Feasibility of using micro channels as the second layer was also investigated in this paper and it proved to have advantages over using pin-fin structures on both layers. A geometric optimization based on the substrate thickness of the second layer of the double layer heat sink showed that the substrate thickness of the second layer doesn’t have any effect on the overall thermal resistance of the heat sink.Copyright

Diffusion Analysis of Chloride in Concrete Following Electrokinetic Nanoparticle Treatment

Concrete is a highly porous material which is susceptible to the migration of highly deleterious species such as chlorides and sulfates. Various external sources including sea salt spray, direct sea water wetting, deicing salts and brine tanks harbor chlorides that can enter reinforced concrete. Chlorides diffuse into the capillary pores of concrete and come into contact with the rebar. When chloride concentration at the rebar exceeds a threshold level it breaks down the passive layer of oxide, leading to chloride induced corrosion. Application of electrokinetics using positively charged nanoparticles for corrosion protection in reinforced concrete structures is an emerging technology. This technique involves the principle of electrophoretic migration of nanoparticles to hinder chloride diffusion in the concrete. The re-entry of the chlorides is inhibited by the electrodeposited assembly of the nanoparticles at the rebar interface. In this work electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) combined with equivalent circuit analysis was used to predict chloride diffusion coefficients as influenced by nanoparticle treatments. Untreated controls exhibited a diffusion coefficient of 3.59 × 10−12 m2 /s which is slightly higher than the corrosion initiation benchmark value of 1.63 × 10−12 m2 /s that is noted in the literature for mature concrete with a 0.5 water/cement mass ratio. The electrokinetic nanoparticle (EN) treated specimens exhibited a diffusion coefficient of 1.41 × 10−13 m2 /s which was 25 times lower than the untreated controls. Following an exposure period of three years the mature EN treated specimens exhibited lower chloride content by a factor of 27. These findings indicate that the EN treatment can significantly lower diffusion coefficients thereby delaying the initiation of corrosion.Copyright

Performance of Cross Flow Microchannel Heat Exchangers Subjected to Viscous Dissipation

This paper analyzes the effect of viscous dissipation on the thermal performance of balanced flow cross flow microchannel heat exchangers. The cross flow microchannel heat exchanger analyzed in this paper is one that is subjected to axial heat conduction. Governing equations are developed for each of the fluids and the wall separating the fluids. The equations are solved simultaneously using the numerical technique of finite difference method to obtain the temperature profile. The effectiveness of each fluid is determined using the temperature profile thus obtained. The effectiveness and the temperature of the fluids are found to depend on NTU, axial heat conduction parameters and the viscous dissipation parameter. In the presence of axial heat conduction the effectiveness of the fluid decreases for a specific NTU. In addition, the effectiveness of the fluids decreases with increase in axial heat conduction parameters at a particular NTU. The effectiveness of the hot fluid in the presence of viscous heat dissipation alone decreased at a particular NTU. On the other hand the effectiveness of the cold fluid for the same amount of viscous heating improved at a specific NTU. The combined effect of axial heat conduction and viscous dissipation on the hot fluid is to decrease its effectiveness. With regard to the cold fluid effectiveness it can either increase or decrease due to the combined effect of axial heat conduction parameter and viscous dissipation.Copyright