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Abstract
Laboratory analyzers are increasingly being miniaturized to offer many advantages including reduced hardware costs, material consumption, faster analysis speeds, and the ability to operate for high performance. Microfluidic systems are becoming an important technology in chemical and biological process applications. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3-D) vortex-operated micro-mixer is presented that using a pneumatically driven diaphragm to create a vortex flow in the mixing chamber for rapid mixing performance. The micromixer is fabricated using microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are also used to investigate the mixing mechanism and investigate the flow parameters. The 3-D vortex micromixer is used to generate a vortex flow field and to demonstrate a remarkable mixing efficiency of up to 95.0% in a short period of time. Simulations and experimental observations indicate that the mixing efficiency increases as the driving frequency increases and the complete mixing time decreases. The results show that the proposed vortex micromixer can completely mix the two samples suitable for use in micromechanical systems applied in biological and chemical analysis.