Title :
Quantitative volume determination of dispensed nanoliter droplets on the fly
Author :
Ernst, A. ; Streule, W. ; Zengerle, R. ; Koltay, P.
Author_Institution :
Dept. for Microsyst. Eng., Univ. of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Abstract :
In this paper we present a sensor for non-contact monitoring of dispensed micro-droplets on the fly. In extension to our previous work, the sensor now allows for a direct, quantitative volume determination of single liquid droplets in the volume range from 20 to 100 nl. The improved electronic transducer enables to measure the droplet volume with an accuracy of DeltaV plusmn 3 nl. The sensor signal provides a variety of information about the monitored droplet like for examples droplet velocity. This paper considers in particular the influence of the droplet velocity on the volume measurement. It turned out that the velocity effect can be fully compensated, if the signals are interpreted correctly.
Keywords :
capacitive sensors; drops; volume measurement; dispensed micro-droplets; dispensed nanoliter droplets; droplet volume; electronic transducer; noncontact monitoring; quantitative volume determination; single liquid droplets; volume measurement; Capacitive sensors; Capacitors; Dielectric constant; Dielectric measurements; Electrodes; Equations; Monitoring; Permittivity measurement; Pollution measurement; Volume measurement; Capacitive sensor; nanoliter dispensing; non-contact detection; process control;
Conference_Titel :
Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009. TRANSDUCERS 2009. International
Conference_Location :
Denver, CO
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4190-7
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4193-8
DOI :
10.1109/SENSOR.2009.5285741
