SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED FORMATION AND HANDLING OF LIQUID MIXTURES Russian patent published in 2016 - IPC B01L3/00 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: group of inventions relates to a system for feeding fluids into microfluidic subsystem and a method of producing microdroplets in such a system. The system (1) comprises a microfluidic subsystem and a supply part for feeding liquids into said microfluidic subsystem, comprising a first valve (14, 29, 46) and a first fluidic duct (10, 25, 28) for connecting said first valve (14, 29, 46) to said microfluidic subsystem and feeding a first liquid, as well as a second valve (15) and a second fluidic duct (11) for connecting said second valve (15) to said microfluidic supply subsystem and feeding a second liquid. Said first valve (14, 29, 46) and said second valve (15) are adapted to be closed with time resolution not worse than 100 ms. Parameters of said first fluidic duct (10, 25, 28), second fluidic duct (11), first valve (14, 29, 46) and second valve (15) are selected so that following conditions are satisfied. Hydraulic resistance R_out of said first fluidic duct (10, 25, 28) or said second fluidic duct (11) at least 10 times higher, preferably at least 100 times higher than hydraulic resistance R_in of input of said first valve (14, 29, 46) or second valve (15), respectively, and where index i = 1/2 relates to first/second fluidic duct and where E_i is Young's modulus of material from which corresponding fluidic duct is made, L_i is length of respective fluidic duct, A_i is area of lumen of corresponding fluidic duct and σ_Ri is a constant characterising geometry of corresponding fluidic duct in equation for hydraulic resistance R_i fluid channel R_i=σ_Ri(L_iµ/A_i ²), where µ is coefficient of dynamic viscosity of fluid filling corresponding fluidic duct when measuring R_i.

EFFECT: system provides automatic formation of microdroplets and enables to conduct reactions in microdroplets, offering smaller volume of reaction mixtures and precision and speed similar to or better than that offered by automated microtiter systems or systems for biochemical analysis of blood.

33 cl, 16 dwg, 5 ex, 1 tbl