Ping-Hei Chen

Bubble growth and ink ejection process of a thermal ink jet printhead

The present study investigated bubble growth and the ink ejection process of a thermal ink jet (TIJ) printhead with a thin-film heater on the bottom-wall of the ink nozzle. Numerical predictions are presented for bubble volume, temperature, and pressure, and ink jet ejection length under various heating conditions. An inexpensive optical system was set up to visualize the transient ink ejection process. Experimental results to show the effect of the heating pulse conditions on the ejected droplet volume and ejected ink length are also presented. The experimental and numerical results agree well on both the ejected ink length for shorter time history (< 6 μs) and the threshold operating voltage for the ink ejection.

Effect of viscosity of base fluid on thermal conductivity of nanofluids

This study aims to investigate the effect of viscosity of the base fluid on the thermal conductivity of nanofluids in which Fe3O4 nanoparticles are suspended in the base fluid composed of diesel oil and polydimethylsiloxane. Viscosity of the base fluid is varied by changing the volumetric fractions between both fluids. The measured thermal conductivity of nanofluids gradually approaches the value predicted by the Maxwell equation by increasing the viscosity. It demonstrates that the viscosity of nanofluids does affect the thermal conductivity of nanofluids, and the Brownian motion of suspended particles could be an important factor that enhances the thermal conductivity of nanofluids.

Improvement on thermal performance of a disk-shaped miniature heat pipe with nanofluid

The present study used nanofluid as the working medium for a disk-shaped miniature heat pipe (DMHP). The nanofluid is a suspension with gold nanoparticles of an average diameter of 17 nm in an aqueous solution. An experimental system was set up to measure the thermal resistance of the disk-shaped miniature heat pipe (DMHP) with both nanofluid and DI-water A mounting base is designed and integrated with the DMHP as a heat spreader for a laser diode TO can package. The present mounting base is made of aluminum (6061 T6). The measured results show that the thermal resistance of the DMHP varies with the charge volume and the type of working medium. At the same charge volume, a significant reduction in the thermal resistance of the DMHP can be found if nanofluid is used instead of DI-water.

Pressure response and droplet ejection of a piezoelectric inkjet printhead

Abstract The present study aims to investigate the pressure rise in the ink flow channel and the ink droplet formation process of a piezoelectric printhead after an electrical pulse is applied to the printhead. The ink flow channel is modeled as a straight circular pipe followed by a convergent nozzle. Both numerical analysis and experimental observations are performed in this study. In the numerical analysis, a characteristic method is used to solve the one-dimensional wave equation to obtain the transient pressure and velocity variations in the flow channel of the printhead. In this analysis, the channel is assumed to have a non-uniform cross section. In addition, a flow visualization system was set up to observe the ink droplet injection process. After the piezoelectric material is driven by the input electric pulse, the ink droplet images are immediately captured by a charge-couple device (CCD) camera converted to a digital image via a frame grabber, and stored in a computer. The results obtained from the experimental observations are also compared with the numerical prediction. The effects of electric pulse shape and voltage on the ink injection length and the ejected droplet weight are also presented.

Rapid DNA amplification in a capillary tube by natural convection with a single isothermal heater.

Herein we describe a simple platform for rapid DNA amplification using convection. Capillary convective PCR (CCPCR) heats the bottom of a capillary tube using a dry bath maintained at a fixed temperature of 95°C. The tube is then cooled by the surrounding air, creating a temperature gradient in which a sample can undergo PCR amplification by natural convection through reagent circulation. We demonstrate that altering the melting temperature of the primers relative to the lowest temperature in the tube affects amplification efficiency; adjusting the denaturation temperature of the amplicon relative to the highest temperature in the tube affects maximum amplicon size, with amplicon lengths of ≤500 bp possible. Based on these criteria, we successfully amplified DNA sequences from three different viral genomes in 30 min using CCPCR, with a sensitivity of ~30 copies per reaction.

DNA detection using commercial mobile phones

This study investigates the feasibility of using mobile phones cameras for DNA detection. DNA amplification uses the convective polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) technique due to its simple mechanism, which requires no thermal cycling control. Fluorescence increment analysis and information entropy analysis are employed separately to determine whether the test samples contain target DNA (Positive) or not (Negative). The fluorescence increment method uses the brightness of the captured images before and after DNA amplification to calculate ΔF. ΔF values above a threshold level indicate that the test sample is positive. The information entropy method defines the probability, P(C/X), which indicates whether the fluorescence image tends towards a specific shape. If a DNA template is successfully amplified, the captured fluorescence image should be a perfect circle. P(C/X) provides a threshold of 0.5 to identify a circle and values above 0.5 indicate the test sample is positive. Experimental results show that P(C/X) is more effective than ΔF for determining DNA detection results. The information entropy analysis method is applied to ten mobile phones of three different brands equipped with camera sensors, which have pixel numbers ranging from 120 M to 800 M. The clinical evaluation study (n = 60) for screening hepatitis B virus (HBV) plasmid samples shows that the accuracy rate of all models of mobile phones ranges from 85% to 100%. This illustrates that successful DNA detection can be achieved using the most widely deployed electronic device.

Droplet formation of a thermal sideshooter inkjet printhead

The present study aims to provide numerical predictions on the droplet formation process for a thermal sideshooter inkjet printhead, which directly aAects the printing quality of the printhead. The calculation procedure starts from the heat up of the printhead by an input electrical pulse, then obtains the pressure impulse response curve due to the formation and collapse of a bubble in the ink, the ink flow motion in the ink nozzle, and finally the evolution process of the ejected ink droplet outside the ink nozzle. The governing continuity and momentum equations for the flow motion in the ejected ink droplet are solved on the Eulerian frame by an implicit finite-diAerence scheme. The ink droplet leading is then updated to the new location from the newly obtained velocity. A comparison is made between the present numerical predictions with experimental results. A good agreement has been found. In addition, the present study shows the eAects of the operating voltage of electrical pulse, the ink properties, and the gravity on the breakoA time of ejected droplet from the ink nozzle exit and the separation time of the long tail from main droplet. ” 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Numerical Investigation of Confined Multiple-Jet Impingement Cooling Over A Flat Plate at Different Crossflow Orientaions

This study investigates the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of round jet arrays impinging orthogonally on a flat-plate with confined walls at different crossflow orientations. A computational fluid dynamic technique based on a control volume method is used to compute the detailed Nusselt number distributions on the flat plate. This is achieved by solving the steady-state three-dimensional incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The Reynolds stress turbulence quantities are determined by a realizable κ-ϵ turbulence model with an enhancement near-wall treatment. Numerical computations are performed for two types of arrangements in round jet arrays, both inline and staggered, and three different crossflow directions, parallel, hybrid, and counter. The jet Reynolds numbers ranging from 2,440 to 14,640 and three different jet-to-plate spacing ratios (Zn/dj) of 1, 3, and 6 are investigated in this study. Results show that the flow exit crossflow direction would significantly affect the developing jet flow fields and Nusselt number distributions on the target flat-plate. Area-averaged Nusselt number increases with an increase of jet Reynolds number. Of all the cases tested, the highest average Nusselt numbers were obtained for the case with inline jets and hybrid crossflow orientation. The thermal performance of impingement multiple jets is enhanced when the value of Zn/dj decreases from 6 to 3. Results show that further reducing the value of Zn/dj to 1 creates a significant nonuniform distribution in local Nusselt number over the target plate regardless of the crossflow orientations. This study also provides a correlation of the area-averaged Nusselt number with the jet Reynolds number for both inline and staggered jet arrays.

Applications of Ferro-Nanofluid on a Micro-Transformer

An on-chip transformer with a ferrofluid magnetic core has been developed and tested. The transformer consists of solenoid-type coil and a magnetic core of ferrofluid, with the former fabricated by MEMS technology and the latter by a chemical co-precipitation method. The performance of the MEMS transformer with a ferrofluid magnetic core was measured and simulated with frequencies ranging from 100 kHz to 100 MHz. Experimental results reveal that the presence of the ferrofluid increases the inductance of coils and the coupling coefficient of transformer; however, it also increases the resistance owing to the lag between the external magnetic field and the magnetization of the material.

Convective Transport Phenomena on the Suction Surface of a Turbine Blade Including the Influence of Secondary Flows Near the Endwall

A naphthalene sublimation technique is employed to study the mass transfer distribution on the suction (convex) surface of a simulated turbine blade. Comparison with a heat transfer study shows good agreement in the general trends in the region of two-dimensional flow on the blade. Near the endwall, local convective coefficients on the suction surface are obtained at 4608 locations from two separate runs. The secondary flows in the passage significantly affect the mass transfer rate on the suction surface and their influence extends to a height of 75 percent of the chord length, from the endwall, in the trailing edge region