A New Magnetically Actuated Microvalve for Liquid and Gas Control Applications

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the design, fabrication, and testing of a prototype microvalve which makes use of a novel magnetic microactuator. The completed device consists of three layers, with the bottom two layers making up the normally closed valve. The top layer (actuator) contains the flux generator on its top surface combined with Ni/Fe plated through holes for guiding the flux to the valve. The actuator and valve components are separately fabricated and then mounted onto a glass motherboard which contains both fluid flow channels and patterned gold traces for making electrical connections. In addition to providing an easy means for testing, the motherboard will allow for the later attachment of other microfluidic components to create a complete microfluidic total analysis system (mTAS) on a single substrate. Preliminary test results show that the valve is capable of controlling gas and liquid flow in the range of submicroliters to hundreds of mL/min.