1

Proceedings of 3ICCHMT
3rd International Conference on Computational Heat and Mass Transfer
May 26–30, 2003, Banff, CANADA

FLUID AND PARTICLE MOTION IN MICRO SYSTEMS AND BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Ching-Jen Chen, Yousef Haik, Sheng-Yuh Jaw, Sridhar Kanuri, Jhunu Chatterjee and Mohammad Kilani
College of Engineering
Florida A & M University – Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA
cjchen@eng.fsu.edu

ABSTRACT
This paper describes some aspects of the development of micro systems using nanomagnetic particle to detect
biological components for medical and clinical use. The presentation covers (1) brief historical development of
emerging areas of recent technologies, namely nanotechnology, microtechnology and biomedical technology,
(2) the flow and particle features in the micro biological system where fluid is mixed with micro biological
component, (3) development of micro devices such as micropumps, (4) characterization and production of
micro biological component which encapsulates nanomagnetic particles and (5) visualization of the mixing of
fluid and particles in the micro device for clinical applications. Examples of the micro system used in the
present study are the detection of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and blood cell separation application. The
unique feature of the present micro systems is the utilization of magnetic nanoparticles encapsulated in specific
protein that mixed in the fluid solution. Ensuring good mixing of the nanoparticles with the blood sample in the
micron size chamber is essential for the device to function. Color particle image velocimetery (CPIV) is used
to study the mixing process between the blood sample and the magnetic nanoparticles.

NOMENCLATURE
r Spiral radius
k Polar slope
∆θ Angular span
h’ Gap height
h Channel height
w Channel width
wt Channel wall width
l Spiral length
uch Channel wall velocity
w Angular velocity
p Pressure
u x- velocity
v y velocity
µ Viscosity
q Volume flow rate per unit length
 2

I. INTRODUCTION
The fundamental scale for life science is micro scale since the basic scale for cells is micrometer. Therefore it is
most nature to consider micro devices or systems for medical and biological applications. On the other hand
when one considers the drug delivery to the cell and the cell communication with various proteins the basic
scale is nanoscale. The drug and proteins, both in nanosize, need to cross the cell membrane through the
receptor to carry their function. In this study we focus in developing nanomagnetic particles and micro devices
for application in clinical diagnosis and biotechnology. An example of biomedical device is the lab-on-chip with
micro fluidic channels, mixing chambers and detection chambers.

Two applications of nanomagnetic particles are presented. In the first application, the red blood cells are
separated from the buffy coat to isolate white cells for chemo treatment. At present, the separation of white
cells from whole blood depends mostly on centrifugal techniques. The buffy coat obtained as a result of the
centrifugal separation in general still contains high percentage of red blood cells about 3 to 10%. In the current
clinical practice, the buffy coat is diluted such that the light penetration may reach the white cell and activate a
certain drug. In the present study nano magnetic particles are used to enhance the separation of red cells from
the buffy coat.

The second application is the detection of heart attack. This is important because cardiac disease, especially
acute myocardial infarction (AMI), or heart attack, affects substantial number of people in the world. The state
of the current diagnosis procedures is slow and inaccurate such that a number of ambulatory AMI patients are
discharged with negative findings only to have recurrent and often more serious complications at home.
Specifically in this study magnetic nanoparticles are used for the magnetic immunoassay to identify two AMI
markers, myoglobin and fatty acid binding protein, simultaneously. Myoglobin (MYO) and fatty acid-binding
protein (FABP) are two small cardiac proteins that show elevated serum levels soon after the infarction.
Significant increase in their concentration is known within 2 hours after infarction and peeking 4-6 hours after
an infarction. Recent studies show that the combined measurement of Myoglobin and FABP in plasma allows
the discrimination between myocardial and skeletal muscle injury.

This study also addresses miniaturization since the microsystem is able to integrate complex multistep
analytical process into a single and simple micro device. In the microdevices nanomagnetic particles offer
advantages to be used as a tool for separating the proteins from the biological solution in a rapid and efficient
process. Additionally they can be used as mixing agents and detection agents. The integrated micro device is
in its development stage however components such as micro pumps that will be integrated into the device are
developed and will be presented in this paper.

The paper covers (1) development and production of encapsulated nanomagnetic particles, (2) the fluid and
particle characteristic in the micro analysis system where fluid is mixed with micro biological component and
magnetic particles, and (3) visualization of the process in which micro device is used for heart attack detection.

II. MAGNETIC PARTICLES

The use of coated magnetic particles for cell and protein separation has been extensively studied [1,2,3,4]. The
coated magnetic particles can be classified according to their shape, size, composition and surface coating. In
biomedical applications the shape is almost exclusively spherical. The size of the beads ranges from nano to
micron size. In our lab we have developed magnetic particles that are made of iron oxide in the range from
6nm to 30nm [2,5]. The particles express a superparamagnetic behavior. These magnetic particles are then
coated with protein, polymer or silica. The surface properties of the nanospheres can be manipulated by
 3

selecting an appropriate encapsulating material. In addition, a large number of functional groups have been
introduced on the spheres’ surface to obtain a variety of linkages for attachment. The functional groups include
amine, carboxylic acid, hydroxyl, epoxy, amide, aldehyde, ketone, chloromethyl, sulphate and hydrazide.

Research conducted at our Laboratory has resulted in the development of a line of superparamagnetic micro and
nanospheres coated with albumin, polyethylene, polypropylene or polystyrene for the separation of different
biological components from non-coagulated blood samples [2,6,7,8].

Figure 1 shows a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) monograph of γ-Fe2O3 (maghemite) prepared in-
house. These magnetic particles are then coated with a protein or a polymer. Figure 2 shows scanning electron
micrograph (SEM) for albumin coated magnetic microspheres and figure 3 shows a transmission electron
micrograph of polyethylene coated microspheres. Figure 4 shows polystyrene coated magnetic microspheres
attached to a red blood cell. Protein coupling efficiency was measured for the composite particles. Avidin was
used as a model ligand due to its strong bond-forming ability with various ligands used in immunoassays. It
had been found that only 30% of the calculated amount of avidin required for monolayer formation on particles
is used to coat the particles and the remaining portion unadsorbed.

Figure 1 TEM of γ-Fe2O Figure 2 SEM of albumin spheres Figure 3 TEM of polyethylene

Figure 4 SEM of polystyrene coated

Figure 5 AFM micrograph of polyethylene
microsphere attached to red blood cell
microspheres coated with avidin
 4

Figure 6 Hysteresis curve for polyethylene microspheres

Figure 5 shows an atomic force microcopy (AFM) micrograph of the surface topology of avidin coated
polyethylene microspheres. Atomic absorption analysis showed approximately 32% iron in the microspheres
[5,7]. Magnetization for the particles was measured using a Superconducting Quantum Interface Device
(SQUID). The magnetization measurements showed the characteristic of superparamagnetic behavior of the
composite particles. Figure 6 shows a magnetization curve for polyethylene coated magnetic microspheres.
The superparamagnetic particles are preferred for biological applications because they do not have remanence

III. MAGNETIC SEPARATION OF RED CELLS

III.1 Mixing of Magnetic Particles and Blood Cells
The separation of red blood cells from the buffy coat was performed by linking magnetic carriers with the
glycoprotein at the surface of the red blood cell membrane. Chemically cross linked albumin magnetic
microspheres for blood separation were synthesized. Modification of human serum albumin (HSA)
microspheres with biotinylated lectin was done by preparation of thiolated avidin, which act as a bridge
between biotinylated lectin and iron oxide bound HSA.

Good mixing between the blood stream and the magnetic microspheres is the key to achieve better separation of
red blood cells from the whole blood stream. This is because good mixing allows all red blood cells to come in
contact with microspheres. Thus when the microspheres encapsulated magnetic particle is attracted by the
external magnet the red blood cells are removed from the blood stream. One way to achieve good mixing is to
form stream wise vortices in coflowing and counter flowing streams [9, 10]. This idea can be implemented in a
number of ways but the fundamental idea underlying is the utilization of a streamwise vortical structure with its
associated cross-stream circulation to augment the rate of mixing [9]. After some studies the counter flow
mixing, one with microspheres and the other with red blood cells in the T- chamber was examined. To visualize
the mixing the color particle image velocimetry (CPIV) technique was used in the study.

Figure 7 shows a setup for the mixing between micro-spheres and the buffy coat containing the red blood cells.
The buffy coat is obtained using a centrifugal separation and is a mixture of red and white blood cells in
addition to plasma and platelets. The buffy coat is fed into the T-mixing chamber from one end as shown in
figure 7. In the other end the stream mixed with magnetic microspheres is pumped to meet the buffy coat at the
center of the T. Once the mixing is occurred the solution is fed to a separation chamber. The separation
chamber has a series of permanent magnets placed under the chamber in spatially alternating poles. The
channels in the chamber are designed to increase the exposure too the magnetic fields.
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Figure 7 Schematic for red blood cell separation device

III.2 Color Particle Image Velocimetry (CPIV)

To better understand the laminar mixing that is needed for the reactants a CPIV facility was setup. CIPV uses a
single frame, alternating colors, multi-exposure particle image. The multi-exposure particle image is separated
into unique color, sequential images and the velocity vectors are calculated using the pattern matching
normalized correlation from these images. The pattern matching algorithm allows the use of smaller
interrogation to improve spatial resolution of the measurement, guarantees that all the correlation functions and
pixel intensities have the same weighting factor, hence the out-of-pattern effect, peak-locking error are reduced,
and the measurement results are insensitive to the image intensities of different color particle images.

The test section is illuminated by high speed pulsed Dye lasers (λ = 470 nm and 530 nm) with an average pulse
intensity of 1.4 mw at 500nm focused to a sheet of width 1 mm. In order to produce the laser sheet the two
lasers were placed parallel to each other and the laser beams were concentrated to a spot of 1mm diameter using
collimator arrangement. The collimator arrangement is obtained by using plain convex lenses of focal lenses 25
mm and 50 mm in series with the plain faces facing each other. The lasers are then directed to the cylindrical
lens to produce the required laser sheet of 1mm thickness. The image area is approximately 30 mm x 10mm,
and recorded using a Kappa Image Base CCD camera (1300 x 1030 pixel array) with an 80 mm focal lens and
the time separation ranging from 1 ms to 10 ms between image pairs. Hollow Glass beads with an average
diameter of 10 µm were used as PIV tracer particles in the flow. The data acquisition board used was National
Instruments TBX-68. The data acquisition board obtains the signal as soon as the camera shutter opens to take
the image. The signal is then sent to the two lasers depending upon the time delay set in the lab-view programs
used for triggering the lasers. As the lasers are triggered, the camera shutter closes taking a real time snapshot of
the fluid motion i.e., tracer particle motion.

A scale up model for a T-mixing chamber that is used to mix the red blood cells with magnetic microspheres
was studied. Figure 8 shows a snap shot of the vortices formed at the T-junction. It was observed that a vortex
forms every 3 sec at the point where the two liquids hit each other and it sheds traveling 1 cm downstream. A
series of 7 pictures have been taken at the center of the T-Chamber, which have clearly shown the vortex
formation and shedding in the T-chamber. The results are presented in figure 9. It was also observed from flow
 6

visualization experiments that the two liquids mix almost uniformly with each other and leave the chamber. The
time of exposure was set to 500 milliseconds.

Figure 8: Formation of vortices at the center of the T- Chamber.

500

500

400
400

300
y

300
y

200
200

100
100

100 200 300 400 500 600 100 200 300 400 500 600
x x

(a) Collision of two liquids at the center of couvette (b) Formation of vortex

500
500

400
400

300
y

300
y

200
200

100 100

100 200 300 400 500 600 100 200 300 400 500 600
x x

(c)Movement of vortex (d) Movement of vortex

Figure 9: Velocity vector profile of flow at center of T-Chamber

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III.3 Experimental Set-up for Red Cell Separation

Blood was obtained from a healthy donor 2 hr. before the experiment. The blood was drawn in an 8 ml vacuum
tube, which has EDTA anticoagulant. The blood was kept at 4ο C until the time of the experiment. The
experiment was conducted at room temperature. The blood sample was centrifuged at 3000 rpm. The
centrifuged solution forms into 3 layers with red blood cells at the bottom, a thin layer of buffy coat in the
middle and white blood cells and plasma on top. The white blood cells and buffy coat are separated and the red
blood cells diluted with saline to a hematocrit of 10 (hematocrit 10 was obtained by adding 45 ml of saline to 5
ml of red blood cells). This simulates the amount of red blood cells trapped in white blood cells.

The hematocrit content vs. optical absorbance curve is shown in figure 10. The curve shows the measurement
of the hematocrit content of the separated red blood cell solution. A Turner SP-830 digital microprocessor
controlled visible spectrophotometer, providing photometric readout of transmittance and absorbance was used
for calculating the hematocrit content at low red blood cell concentrations. A known quantity of red blood cells
from 2 µl to 2 ml were added to 1 ml of saline solution and the absorbance was measured in the
spectrophotometer. Since the amount of red blood cells added is known the hematocrit content can be calculated
and the absorbance determined using spectrophotometer. A plot of hematocrit vs. absorbance was used to
calculate the hematocrit of the separated red blood cell solution by measuring the absorbance. The diluted red
blood cell solution is passed through the hybrid magnetic separation system. The hematocrit of the solution after
passing through the separation system was found to be 0.85.

Using the designed T mixing chamber the buffy coat containing up to 10% hematocrit of red blood cells can be
reduced to 1% of hematocrit. This enables the drug that currently can be activated only by the Ultra-Violet
(UV) light to become functional for treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. The new magnetic separation device
was developed in this study for Thoraces, Inc., a research division of Johnson & Johnson, Inc. The magnetic
separation device increased the white cell treatment efficiency from 50% to 95%. Thoraces, Inc., has developed
a proprietary extra corporeal, Ultra-Violet A (Wavelength: 320 - 400 nm) Radiation (UVAR) based,
photopherestic method for the palliative treatment of white blood cells of patients with skin cancers.

Hem atocrit Vs Absorbance

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
Absorbance

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Hem atocrit

Figure 10 Hematocrit content

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IV. MICRO FLUIDIC DEVICES

IV.1 Magnetic Immunoassays
A micro fluidic device is being developed for the detection of acute myocardial infarction markers. Cardiac
disease, especially acute myocardial infarction (AMI) affects a growing number of people in the United States
and other parts of the world. A complication of the present diagnosis procedures is that a number of ambulatory
AMI patients are discharged with negative findings only to have recurrent and often more serious complications
at home. Of more than 5 million individuals with acute chest pains admitted to emergency rooms in the U.S.,
about 3 million are admitted to an intensive care unit or telemetry ward, because traditional methods for
diagnosis are not sensitive enough in about 50% of the cases. More importantly, 2-8% of patients with chest
pains that are discharged from emergency departments develop acute myocardial infarctions resulting in
adverse events and malpractice actions. [11,12]. The development of a simplified, cost–effective and accurate
procedure to diagnose AMI would greatly aid medical care providers especially those in emergency rooms
where the majority of AMI patients are initially evaluated. Additionally, the use of improved myocardial injury
markers would improve detection in patients with minor or silent MI. Further the ability to perform such assays
at the point of care (POC) would provide a means of more accurately and timely evaluating patients within the
emergency room or even in ambulance.

It is proposed to apply magnetic immunoassays in microanalysis system for detection of AMI markers.
Microanalysis system provides small hand-held portable analyzers for point of care testing and offers cost
reduction in analytical processes since the amount of reagent used per assay can be drastically reduced
compared to conventional analysis. Another important advantage of micro-miniaturization is the ability to
integrate all of the steps in a complex multistep analytical process onto a single device.

The application of nanomagnetic particles in a microanalysis system will overcome disadvantages associated
with current microanalysis systems. For example, as the size of a sample is successively decreased, an
immediate concern relates to how representative the sample is of the specimen from which it was derived. This
is a problem for inhomogeneous biological specimens that contain a diversity of constituents [13]. This
problem can be overcome by developing flow through sampling in which larger volumes of sample are flowed
through a low volume micro system. In addition, using a site-specific agent such as a magnetic nanosphere
would isolate the rare component from the flow. Another issue that rises is the delectability of components.
Conventional microanalysis systems cannot detect small quantities in the order of picog/L. Using magnetic
nanospheres we are able to detect 1 picog/L [13]. In addition the magnetic nano particles will facilitate the
reactions in the micro systems. As the fluid motion is laminar in the micro systems and mixing is required
between the reactants, the nano magnetic spheres overcome the need for component displacement by
thoroughly mixing the reactants with each other. The use of the nano spheres will also eliminate the need for
dilution of the reactants, which will increase detectability and maintain the reaction speed at a level that
corresponds to the concentration. Furthermore, with the use of an external magnet the nano spheres can be
easily localized which also allows the ability to continuously pump the reaction components through the
spheres thus enhancing the yield of the reaction.

We have developed immunoassays based on the magnetic nanoparticles to test for two markers of AMI
(Myoglobin and Fatty Acid Binding Protein), simultaneously. A standard solid-phase ELISA (Enzyme Linked
Immunoassay) consisting of the formation of a complex or “sandwich” by attaching two different antibodies to
different epitopes (binding sites) on the same target antigen or protein was used. One antibody was attached to
a solid surface (superparamagnetic microsphere), and the other was attached to a small chemical enzyme
(Alkaline Phosphates). The first antibody, attached to a surface, is used for the separation of the antigen from
 9

the background, while the second antibody, labeled with a enzyme, reacts with an introduced chemical reagent
to give a relative indication of the concentration of the antigen (the extent of this reaction is proportional to the
concentration of the antigen) [13,14]. The immunoassay developed follows this principle, with Human
Myoglobin or the Fatty Acid Binding Protein (FABP) as the antigen and two different monoclonal anti-
Myoglobin or anti-FABP antibodies targeting two separate epitopes on the Myoglobin or the FABP protein.

The main difference between the present method and the standard method is the use of a superparamagnetic
microsphere for the separation and concentration of the antibodies-antigen complex from the background.
Figure 11 shows a schematic diagram of a two-site immunoassay. In the figure, two monoclonal antibodies for
Myoglobin targeting different epitopes are labeled with either an enzyme label or a superparamagnetic
microsphere. The antibodies conjugate with the Myoglobin protein forming the Microsphere-Myoglobin-
Enzyme Complex. Using an external magnet, the superparamagnetic properties of the microsphere allow for
the repeated washing of the sample, separating the complex from all background media in the same sample
container. After the complex has been isolated, a chemical reagent is introduced that reacts with the enzyme
label in the complex to give a relative measurement of Myoglobin concentration in a sample. Recent studies
show that the combined measurement of Myoglobin and FABP in plasma allows the discrimination between
myocardial and skeletal muscle injury. The ratios for these markers differ between heart and skeletal muscle
MYO/FABP ratio is 20:70, depending on muscle type [11].

Figure 11 Magnetic Immunoassay

IV.2 Micro Analysis System

A conceptual micro channel device is shown in figure 12. The device consists of microfluidic channels to
direct the flow of the sample, nanospheres solution, alkaline phosphatase, buffer solution and pNPP. Mixing of
the nanospheres with the blood sample, washing of the background sample, mixing of the reacted nanospehers
with the alkaline phosphates then washing and finally mixing the sample with pNPP is done using the
geometric arrangements of the microfluidic channels.

Figure 12 Micro fluidic channels for AMI detection device

 10

A series of micro fluidic devices using surface micromachining has been developed in our laboratory. The
fabrication uses the SUMMiT-5 technology developed at Sandia National Laboratory. Figure 13 shows three
pumping devices fabricated on the same silicon substrate. The pumping devices shown in figure 13 are offset
planetary pumps and a spiral pump. The offset planetary gear pumps utilize a ring gear driven by teeth on its
outer surface to drive the pumping mechanism through teeth on the inner surface of the gear. The inlet and
outlet ports are located inside the ring gear and the pumped fluid is also maintained in its inner vicinity. The
spiral pump implements a spiral protrusion on the substrate. The pumping concept utilizes the viscous drag to
transfer the fluid from the inlet to the outlet at the end of the spiral. These pumps provide two features that
make them suitable to microfabrication. First, the pumps can operate with no valves, thus simplifying their
design and improving their reliability. Second, fluid is contained in the vicinity of the ring gear and is naturally
sealed from the outer devices including the drivers and actuators. In the following section the fluid modeling
for spiral pump is presented. A close form solution is obtained.
6340
microns

2820
microns

Figure 13 Complete module with a spiral pump on the right and two planetary gear pumps on the left.
The module dimensions are 6340x2820 microns.

V. SPIRAL PUMP
V.1 Design and Fabrication
Recent investigations reveal the feasibility of using viscous drag as the operating principle in micromachined
pumps [15,16,17]. A spiral pump consists of a disk with a spiral groove that rotates at a close proximity over a
stationary plate, as illustrated in figure 14 was microfabricated using Sandia’s Ultrplaner Multi-level MEMS
Technology (SUMMiT). Two holes at either end of the spiral channel provide the required inlet and outlet for
the pumped fluid, which undergoes a net tangential viscous stress, and may be transported against an imposed
external pressure head.
P in jo int In le t
S p ira l gro o ve
R o tatin g d isk

S tatio na ry p late O utlet

Figure 14. The spiral pump concept

 11

Figure 15 shows an example spiral micropump fabricated using a compatible planar comb drive microengine
provides continuous rotational motion on its pinion gear, which is transmitted to the spiral disk through a 12:1
torque amplification gear train. Both the microengine and the gear train are available as pick and place

Spiral Electrostaric
pump comb drive

500 µm

Transmission Microengine
gear train output gear

Figure 15. A spiral micropump fabricated in SUMMiT

Figure 16 is a cross sectional view through the spiral disk centerline. The cover is defined in the upper
polysilicon level POLY4 and the stationary plate in the ground level POLY0. A spiral channel protruding from
the POLY4 disk is defined in POLY1, POLY2 and POLY3 levels, leaving a small gap (0.5 microns) above the
stationary POLY0 level. A pin joint at the center of the disk provides it with rotational freedom. Gear teeth on
the perimeter of the disk mesh with matching teeth on the output gear of the transmission gear train. The
intricate structure around the disk is a labyrinth seal for the pumped fluid. The inlet and outlet holes are created
through backside of the wafer using a Bosch etching process.

R otating Spiral
G ear pro trusion
tooth disk
P oly4
P oly3
P oly2
P oly1
P oly0

Lab yrinth seal P in joint

Figure 16. Cross section through the spiral disk

(Vertical dimension magnified to show film details)
 12

The centerline curve of the spiral channel of the spiral pump is a linear Archimedean spiral described in polar
coordinates by

r = kθ + ro , 0 ≤ θ ≤ ∆ θ (1)
and satisfying the condition

k / ro << 1 (2)
where ro is the starting radius of the spiral curve, k is its polar slope (change of r per θ ), and ∆θ is its angular
span. The condition in Eq. (2) indicates that the channel has a slight curvature over its entire length ( r > ro ),
and when satisfied, the rotation of the spiral causes the fluid to be dragged axially along the spiral channel, as
opposed to pushing it normal to the channel axis, if the mentioned conditions are not satisfied. The values of k ,
ro and ∆θ for the design of figure 15 are listed in Table 1 along with the spiral wall width wt , the channel height
h , and the gap height h ' . These six parameters completely define the spiral channel geometry.

Parameter Value
Polar slope k 12 microns

Starting radius ro 146 microns

Angular span ∆θ 8π
Wall thickness wt 21 microns

Channel height h 10 microns

Gap height h ' 0.5 microns

Table 1 Spiral channel parameters and their values for the design of figure 15.

V.2 Flow Analysis

For the purpose of analyzing the flow field in the slightly curved spiral channel, we approximate it as a straight
channel with equivalent dimensions and boundary conditions. Dean investigated the validity of this
approximation in 1927 [19]. Using a perturbation analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations it may be
demonstrated that the leading-order error in the axial velocity due to this unfolding approximation is
proportional to the square of Reynolds number [20], which is small in the viscosity dominated microscale flow
fields. Figure 17 shows the straight channel model resulting from this approximation. h and w are the channel
height and width. The length l is taken to be the length of the centerline curve and is determined by integrating
dl = rdθ = ( ro + kθ ) dθ over the angular span to obtain

∆θ
l≈ ∫ (r o + kθ )dθ = ( ro + k ∆θ 2 )∆θ = ra ∆θ (3)
0
 13

where ra = ro + k ∆θ 2 is the average radius of the spiral curve.

uch(x)
φ
P

y x
h
z
w

Figure 17. Straight channel model

To complete the straight channel model, a simple linear relation between the boundary velocity uch of the
straight channel and the angular velocity ω of the spiral channel may be obtained using the velocity relation
θ
ra
uch = ω r , while relating r to x through the first order approximation dx = ra dθ to obtain x = ∫ ra dθ = raθ = (r − ro ) ,
0 k
or r = ro + kx ra , and

kω
uch ( x) = ω ro + x (4)
ra

For k / r << 1 , φ approaches zero and the transverse component of the channel velocity may be neglected,
leading to symmetry in both geometry and boundary conditions in the z = 0 plane. When h << w , which is
usually the case in the channels considered, the flow field in the plane of symmetry represents the flow across
the channel, and the problem reduces to the 2D flow in that plane as shown in figure 18.

u = u ch ( x ), v = 0
p = p (0, y )
p = p (0, y ) + ∆ p h
y
u = 0, v = 0
x
l
Figure 18. 2D flow model

The unfolding approximation results in a 2D model for the flow field in the spiral channel, which closely
resembles that of the classical Couette model, with the exception that the upper boundary velocity increases
with distance. This eliminates the possibility of obtaining a unidirectional solution for the flow in the channel
(the streamlines are not parallel). The microscale flow an incompressible Newtonian fluid in the thin narrow
gap of the model depicted in figure 18, however, is a classical example of a flow governed by the linear version
of the Navier-Stokes equations known as the lubrication model. The reduced Reynolds number for the case of
pumping water using the pump described in table 1 is 2 ×10−6 ω , and the lubrication model holds for a rotational
speed up to 500, 000 rad/s! Letting u and v denote the x and y components of the fluid velocity, p fluid
pressure and µ its viscosity, the momentum and continuity in the lubrication model are
 14

∂p ∂ 2 u ∂p
=µ 2, =0 (5)
∂x ∂y ∂y

∂u ∂v
+ =0 (6)
∂x ∂y

which in the case of figure 18, are subject to the following boundary conditions

u ( x, 0) = 0, u ( x, h) = uch ( x) (7)

v( x, 0) = 0, v( x, h) = 0 (8)

p(l , y ) = p (0, y ) + ∆p (9)

An analytical solution for the linear system above may be obtained by eliminating p from (5) to give
∂ 3u ∂y 3 = 0 , which may be solved by repeated integration using the boundary conditions in Eq. (7) through Eq.
(9). It may be verified that the closed form solution of the above system is

y  h 2 ∆p  y y 
u = uch ( x) − + 3δ ( x)   − ( ) 2  (10)
h  2µ l  h h 

v = huch ' ( ( y h) 2 − ( y / h)3 ) (11)

6µ
x
x
2 ∫
p( x) = δ ( x)dx + ∆p + po (12)
h 0 l
l
1
l ∫0
where uch ' ≡ ∂uch ∂x , uch ≡ uch ( x)dx is the mean upper boundary velocity and δ ( x) ≡ uch ( x) − uch is the local

deviation from the mean. Figure 19 shows the u profiles between y / h = 0 and y / h = 1 resulting from a linearly
increasing upper boundary speed no imposed external pressure. The figure shows that backflow barely
develops near the bottom wall.
x/l=0 x/l=0.25 x/l=0.5 x/l=0.75 x/l=1

Figure 19. Axial velocity with zero pressure gradient

The results above are now used to estimate the contribution of viscous drag on the volume flow rate, torque and
h
power in the spiral pump. The volume flow rate per unit channel width q ≡ ∫ udy may be estimated by evaluating
0

that integral at any x , with x = x being particularly convenient to obtain

huch h3
q= − ∆p (13)
2 12µ l
 15

The quantity huch is the per unit width flow rate in front of a plug of height h and speed uch . As in conventional
Couette flow, the zero pressure flow rate is only half that quantity and drops with pressure build-up by h3 /12µ l .
To establish a sense on the expected performance figures of a typical spiral micropump, Fig. 20 shows the
theoretical flow rate, for the case of pumping water ( µ = 1× 10−3 kg/(m.s) ) using the spiral pump described in
design A of table 1 when running at speeds ranging from 1000 rad/s to 5000 rad/s against a pressure head
ranging from zero to 700 kPa.

400

Q (n l/s)

300

200 ω=5 000 r/s

40 00
100 30 00
2 000
10 00
∆ P (k Pa )
0
0 100 2 00 300 4 00 500 6 00 700

Figure 20. Theoretical flow rate

V.3 Experimental Modeling

To test the spiral pump concept and the model presented above, experimental flow rate vs. pressure head data
were generated using the setup shown in figure 21. The spiral pump in the figure is a scaled up prototype with
the geometric properties the prototype pump are listed in table 2.

Pressure
Control gauge
valve
Outlet
line
Spiral
pump

Inlet
line DC
motor

Figure 21. Experimental setup

 16

Parameter Value
Polar slope k , mm 0.75
Average radius ra , mm 16.0
Angular span ∆θ 3π
Channel width w , mm 3.2
Channel height h , mm 1.0
Clearance gap h ' , mm 0.1

Table 2 Properties of the spiral pump prototype

SAE 10W30 motor oil with a density of 825 kg/m3 and viscosity of 90.1×10−3 kg/m.s at 28oC was used in the
experiments. Figure 22 presents results experimental results compared with analytical results. At low speeds,
the experimental flow rates are below the analytical predictions with the error increasing as the pressure head is
increased. This may be attributed to the cross flow in the gap below the spiral wall, which is more pronounced
at higher pressures. As the speed of the pump is increased, the centrifugal effects compensates for the cross
flow loss, and when the speed is further increased, the experimental flow rate becomes larger than that predicted
by the analytical solution.

4
Q
(ml /s )
3

ω =1 500 rpm
2
100 0

1
500

0
0 Eq. (26 ) 100 200
∆p (kPa)
Experi menta l

Figure 22 Flow rate – pressure head curves

 17

VI. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented the application of magnetic nanoparticles in biotechnology. Two major applications were
introduced, namely the red blood cell separation and the detection for the AMI markers. The mixing of the
magnetic particles with cellular components was studied by use of CPIV. It was found that a T chamber will
facilitate the mixing between the blood and the magnetic particles. It was also found by applying an external
magnetic field the magnetically coupled red blood cells will be retained in the separation chamber while the rest
of the blood components proceed to the photopheresis treatment unit. A magnetic immunoassay was developed
to isolate cardiac markers from the whole blood sample for rapid detection of AMI. Currently the device used
is manually operated. Research is being conducted to miniaturize the device. Components of the miniaturized
device include micropumps have been fabricated and currently being tested. Of particular interest the spiral
viscous pump was presented. An analytical solution for the pump characteristics was obtained.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was partially supported by Therakos, Inc., Sandia National Lab, Florida State University Research
Foundation and the Center for Material Research and Technology.

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