US 11,794,187 B2
Highly parallelized droplet microfluidic apparatus
David Issadore, Philadelphia, PA (US); and Melaku Muluneh Woldemariam, Philadelphia, PA (US)
Assigned to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (US)
Filed by The Trustees Of The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (US)
Filed on Mar. 20, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/359,368.
Application 16/359,368 is a continuation of application No. 14/900,759, abandoned, previously published as PCT/US2014/058579, filed on Oct. 1, 2014.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/886,378, filed on Oct. 3, 2013.
Prior Publication US 2019/0275523 A1, Sep. 12, 2019
Int. Cl. B81C 1/00 (2006.01); B81C 99/00 (2010.01); B01L 3/00 (2006.01); B01F 23/41 (2022.01); B01F 33/81 (2022.01); B01F 33/3011 (2022.01); B01F 35/10 (2022.01)
CPC B01L 3/502784 (2013.01) [B01F 23/41 (2022.01); B01F 33/3011 (2022.01); B01F 33/813 (2022.01); B01F 35/10 (2022.01); B01L 3/502707 (2013.01); B01L 2200/027 (2013.01); B01L 2200/0673 (2013.01); B01L 2200/12 (2013.01); B01L 2300/0887 (2013.01); B01L 2300/0893 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A microfluidic device comprising:
a first layer comprising at least one flow channel for a continuous phase, at least one flow channel for a disperse phase, and at least one outlet channel;
a second layer comprising a plurality of droplet makers, the plurality of droplet makers comprising a row of droplet makers; and
a third layer comprising through-holes connecting the channels of the first layer with the plurality of droplet makers on the second layer;
wherein the plurality of droplet makers are in fluidic communication with the at least one flow channel for the continuous phase, the at least one flow channel for the disperse phase, and the at least one outlet channel,
wherein the channels on the first layer have a height at least 4 times greater than the height of the droplet makers, and
wherein the microfluidic device further satisfies the equation, 2N(Rr/Rd)<0.5, wherein N is the number of droplet makers in the row of droplet makers, Rr is a fluidic resistance along a flow channel for the continuous phase or a flow channel for the disperse phase extending between each droplet maker of the row, and Rd is a fluidic resistance of a droplet maker of the row.