US 12,121,900 B2
Ultra high efficiency microfluidic platform
Arum Han, College Station, TX (US); Adrian Guzman, College Station, TX (US); Han Zhang, College Station, TX (US); Jose Wippold, College Station, TX (US); and Jing Dai, College Station, TX (US)
Assigned to THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM, College Station, TX (US)
Filed by THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM, College Station, TX (US)
Filed on Oct. 23, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/382,591.
Application 18/382,591 is a continuation of application No. 17/239,456, filed on Apr. 23, 2021, granted, now 11,794,188.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/014,311, filed on Apr. 23, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0157362 A1, May 16, 2024
Int. Cl. B01L 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC B01L 3/502784 (2013.01) [B01L 2200/027 (2013.01); B01L 2200/0647 (2013.01); B01L 2200/12 (2013.01); B01L 2200/16 (2013.01); B01L 2400/086 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
16. A method for forming a merged droplet for testing a fluid sample, comprising:
passing a controlled flow of a fluid sample through a first microfluidic channel in a droplet cleaving unit;
passing a first fluid containing a first set of multi-phase emulsion droplets through a second microfluidic channel in the droplet cleaving unit;
cleaving the fluid sample in the first microfluidic channel into a second set of droplets by flow of the first set of multi-phase emulsion droplets from the second microfluidic channel, the two microfluidic channels being joined at an acute angle;
placing the first set of multi-phase emulsion droplets in close proximity to the second set of droplets generated by cleaving to form paired droplets;
automatically synchronizing the paired droplets at a pairing ratio between the first set of droplets and second set of droplets; and
merging the paired droplets to form a merged droplet.