Design and performance study on electromagnetic microvalve

An electromagnetic microvalve which can be used in pneumatic pressure control for lab-on-a-chip applications is presented and its structure, working principle, and encapsulation process with valve body fabricated by using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are provided. The numerical simulation of flow filed under several opening degrees of the microvalve is made by software Fluent with UDF Function, and its velocity, pressure, and outlet flow flux under different opening degrees of the electromagnetic microvalve are got. Experimental study of its performance is done under different actuated pressures, frequencies, duty cycles. Influencing factors of the average flow and transient flow under On-Off model and PWM model are analyzed, and its theoretical reason are given. Results show that the designed electromagnetic microvalve has the advantages of fast response time, low-cost, high precision and can be easily integrated with pneumatic microfluidic chips. The results are helpful for the improvement of integration and control accuracy of microfluidic chips.