Modeling and controller design of a nonlinear time-varying thermal device in a microfluidic platform

A switching controller is designed and implemented in a custom-made temperature control system to perform sensitive bio-chemical reactions for medical diagnostics within a microfluidic platform. Nonlinear and time-varying characteristics of the plant are considered, and the system is approximated by multi-linear models. Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the switching controller exhibits superior performance compared with other controllers considered. The efficacy of this design is exhibited by the application to a clinically important diagnostic test - polymerase chain reaction (PCR)