Sharif Digital Repository

Liquid marbles show promising potential for digital microfluidic devices due to their lower friction with the platform surface than non-covered droplets. In this study, the manipulation of a biocompatible magnetic liquid marble with a magnetic shell (LMMS) is experimentally studied. The movement of the floating LMMS on the water surface, which is actuated by DC and pulse width modulation (PWM) magnetic fields, is investigated under the influence of various parameters, including the LMMS volume, the initial distance of the LMMS from the magnetic coil tip, the magnetic coil current, the PWM frequency and its duty cycle. The LMMS has a shorter travel time to the magnetic coil tip under a DC... 

Background: Double emulsions (DEs) have attracted researchers’ attention to be utilized as a promising platform in biomedical and chemical applications. Several actuation mechanisms have been proposed for the generation of DEs. The conventional DE formation approaches (e.g. two-stage emulsification) suffer from low monodispersity. The electric actuation (i.e. coaxial electrospray technology) has been demonstrated as a controllable method for the DE formation, while the capability of magnetic actuation has not been studied yet. Result: In the present study, the generation of ferrofluid double emulsions (FDEs), made from water-based ferrofluid as a core and oil as a shell, under the magnetic... 

Abstract A desired circulatory flow in flat-plate closed-loop pulsating heat pipes (FP-CLPHPs), which may ameliorate electronic thermal management, was achieved by using the new idea of interconnecting channels (ICs) to decrease flow resistance in one direction and increase the total heat transfer of fluid. In order to experimentally investigate the effects of the IC, two aluminum flat-plate thermal spreaders - one with ICs (IC-FP-CLPHP) and one without them - were fabricated. The FP-CLPHPs were charged with ethanol as working fluid with filling ratios of 35%, 50%, 65%, and 80% by volume. Performance of interconnecting channels in different heat inputs was explored, and the results... 

In this study, ferrofluid droplet formation from a nozzle in the presence of a non-uniform Pulse-Width Modulated (PWM) magnetic field with different angles was studied experimentally. A Drop-on-Demand platform was introduced and three different regimes of droplet formation were observed. The regime map of the droplet formation was presented. A new type of droplet formation evolution was observed in which the droplet is formed while it is swinging around the nozzle, and the satellite droplet is not generated in this regime. The effects of five important parameters including magnetic flux density, applied magnetic frequency, duty cycle, distance between the nozzle and the center of the upper... 

In this paper, a passive microfluidic device for continuous real time blood plasma separation has been studied and optimized. A numerical model is used to solve both the fluid flow and the particles confined within it. Red blood cells are considered as particles with diameter of 7μm. A parametric study is performed in order to characterize the effect of different parameters on separation and purity efficiency. In this study, four different variables were introduced to design the microfluidic device for blood plasma separation including: the angle between the daughter channels and the main channel, the widths, the diffuse angle and the number of daughter channels. Results show that the... 

The authors regret that the first author's last name was left out of the published version of the article. The author's full name should have appeared as above. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd  

The magnetic actuation of ferrofluid droplets offers an inspiring tool in widespread engineering and biological applications. In this study, the dynamics of ferrofluid droplet generation with a Drop-on-Demand feature under a non-uniform magnetic field is investigated by multiscale numerical modeling. Langevin equation is assumed for ferrofluid magnetic susceptibility due to the strong applied magnetic field. Large and small computational domains are considered. In the larger domain, the magnetic field is obtained by solving Maxwell equations. In the smaller domain, a coupling of continuity, Navier Stokes, two-phase flow, and Maxwell equations are solved by utilizing the magnetic field... 

Magnetically controlled double emulsions offer a promising tool for targeted drug delivery. Here, the effect of a non-uniform magnetic field induced by a permanent magnet on ferrofluid double emulsion generation and morphology is studied. In the numerical part, the double emulsion (and its ferrofluid core) migration was analyzed for different transverse distances of the magnet from the channel centerline (Ly) and different core and shell diameters. In the experimental part, water-based ferrofluid is encapsulated in a UV-curable polymer phase in water, forming a W/O/W double emulsion. As the magnet's downstream distance from the ferrofluid junction reduces, the core aspect ratio increases... 

The rapid achievement of a desirable mixing level at microscales is one of the most challenging aspects of microfluidic systems, whereby micromixers could open the door to efficient mixing on lab-on-a-chip platforms. Although a wide range of strategies have been explored in active and passive micromixers to improve the mixing, the ability to optionally control the mixing is a key factor that is often overlooked. Hereupon, in this study, the adjustable mixing in a novel 3D-printed micromixer by analyzing the effect of various movement patterns of an actuator is examined. In this micromixer, a stainless steel microball is driven as an actuator using a programmable magnetic system. Initially,... 

In this study, a novel 2D laminar Swinging Slot Impinging Jet (SSIJ) on a heated flat surface was investigated using numerical simulation. The impinging jet was introduced to improve the uniform cooling of a hot surface while enhancing the heat transfer rate by disrupting the boundary layer. The impinging jet moves along the target surface similar to the swinging motion of a pendulum. The effects of Reynolds number, dimensionless jet to target distance, maximum angle of swinging, and frequency of jet oscillations were studied, and physics of the new impinging jet were fully discussed. Lastly, optimization was undertaken to search for the optimal variables leading to uniform heat fluxes. A... 

Magnetically actuated droplet manipulation offers a promising tool for biomedical and engineering applications, such as drug delivery, biochemistry, sample handling in lab-on-chip devices and tissue engineering. In this study, characteristics of an adjustable alternating magnetic field generated by a magnetic coil for droplet manipulation was investigated which enables more control on droplet transport, and it can be considered as a suitable alternative for moving magnets or an array of micro-coils. By adjusting the magnetic flux density, the duty cycle and applied magnetic frequency, the manipulation of water-based ferrofluid droplets with a bio-compatible surfactant for different volumes... 

Micro-magnetofluidics offers a promising tool to regulate the drop formation process with versatile applications in engineering and biomedicine. In the present study, on-demand ferrofluid drop generation at a T-junction is investigated utilizing a magnetic pulse. Also, a novel method for ferrofluid droplet formation is introduced using a non-uniform Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) magnetic field. A novel mechanism of drop generation named “beating regime” was seen for the first time in which the ferrofluid moves back and forth before the breakup. The effect of the magnetic induction, continuous phase flow rate, duty cycle, and applied frequency on the generation frequency and drop diameter was... 

Liquid marbles are being promoted as a replacement for conventional droplets in digital microfluidics. Liquid marbles can be remotely controlled by an external magnetic field if ferrofluid is utilized as their liquid cores. In this study, the vibration and jumping of a ferrofluid marble is experimentally and theoretically investigated. An external magnetic field is utilized to induce deformation in a liquid marble and an increase in its surface energy. As the magnetic field is switched off, the stored surface energy converts to gravitational potential and kinetic energies until it is dissipated. An equivalent linear mass-spring-damper system is used to study the vibration of the liquid... 

Numerous applications in engineering and biotechnology have attracted the attention of many researchers to the analysis of underlying physical phenomena during the droplet pinch-off. In this study, the neck evolution during the formation of a ferrofluid droplet from a capillary is investigated under two types of magnetic field for a drop-on-demand system. The two types are steady and Pulse-Width Modulated (PWM) magnetic fields. First, under steady magnetic field, the necking process is studied for different values of magnetic Bond number and various angles between magnetic coil centerline and gravity. Subsequently, self-similar behavior in the vicinity of the detachment moment is observed.... 

To increase heat transfer, ferrofluids have been utilized to study the effective parameters of pool boiling. Changes and possible enhancement of pool boiling heat transfer of magnetic fluids is a function of magnetic field and concentration of nanoparticles. To the best knowledge of the authors, no systematic experiments have been conducted to visualize the phenomena during the boiling of ferrofluids with different concentrations. In this study an experimental investigation has been conducted, by designing and fabricating a novel hele-shaw vessel with glass sides, to explore via visualizations some details in the pool boiling of ferrofluids. Boiling patterns of ferrofluids at various... 

Liquid marbles are droplets encapsulated by a layer of hydrophobic nanoparticles and have been extensively employed in digital microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip systems in recent years. In this study, magnetic liquid marbles were used to manipulate nonmagnetic liquid marbles. To achieve this purpose, a ferrofluid liquid marble (FLM) was employed and attracted toward an electromagnet, resulting in an impulse to a water liquid marble (WLM) on its way to the electromagnet. It was observed that the manipulation of the WLM by the FLM was similar to the collision of billiard balls except that the liquid marbles exhibited an inelastic collision. Taking the FLM as the projectile ball and the WLM as... 

This contribution performs an energy, exergy, and exergoeconomic (3E) analysis of a dual-pressure evaporation organic Rankine cycle system employing twenty different binary zeotropic mixtures as working fluids for power production from a geothermal field. To this end, the designed system is modeled, invoking the mass and energy conservation laws and the exergy and cost balance analyses. Specific Exergy Costing (SPECO) procedure is utilized to provide practical insights into the exergoeconomic aspect of the system. Comparative optimization based on the multi-objective genetic algorithm is accomplished for each mixture in order to simultaneously maximize the exergy efficiency and minimize the... 

An experimental setup has been developed to analyse the impact of cylinder transverse vibration caused by flow-induced vibration, and to improve wind energy harvesting from these vibrations. The setup consists of a cylinder mounted on four springs and is subjected to a uniform and steady flow of wind. In the first part, the effect of mounting a fixed cylinder as an obstacle with different diameters and distances from the downstream vibrating cylinder is investigated. It has been observed that the vibration amplitude on the wake of an unequal-sized obstacle is greatly amplified compared to the case of a single cylinder or an equal-sized cylinder. Numerical simulations has been conducted to... 

An experimental setup has been developed to analyse the impact of cylinder transverse vibration caused by flow-induced vibration, and to improve wind energy harvesting from these vibrations. The setup consists of a cylinder mounted on four springs and is subjected to a uniform and steady flow of wind. In the first part, the effect of mounting a fixed cylinder as an obstacle with different diameters and distances from the downstream vibrating cylinder is investigated. It has been observed that the vibration amplitude on the wake of an unequal-sized obstacle is greatly amplified compared to the case of a single cylinder or an equal-sized cylinder. Numerical simulations has been conducted to... 

Micro-magnetofluidics offers a promising tool for better control over the ferrofluid droplet manipulation which has been vastly utilized in biomedical applications in recent years. In this study, the ferrofluid droplet splitting under an asymmetric Pulse-Width-Modulated (PWM) magnetic field in a T-junction is numerically investigated using a finite volume method and VOF two-phase model. By utilizing the PWM magnetic field, two novel regimes of ferrofluid droplet splitting named as Flowing through the Same Branch (FSB) and Double Splitting (DS) have been observed for the first time. In the FSB regime, the daughter droplets move out of the same microchannel outlet, and in the DS regime, the...