Transport and concentration of blood in capillary tube using flexural acoustic wave

Manipulation of bio-cells and molecules is an important technique in various medical, biochemical analysis systems. Here we demonstrate the manipulation of blood cells in micro-capillary tube[1] using flexural acoustic wave propagating along the tube. The capillary tube is used as a mechanical guide for both the blood and the acoustic wave, where the acoustic interaction occurs very efficiently over a long working range. Figure 1 shows the schematic of experimental setup. The acoustic transducer composed of a PZT disk and a horn generates a flexural acoustic wave when rf signal is applied to the PZT. The I.D. and O.D. of the tube were 75 um and 140 um, respectively. Nearly 100% reflection of the wave at the end of the tuber resulted in the formation of a standing wave along the tube.