Control-oriented model of dielectrophoresis and electrorotation for arbitrarily shaped objects.

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Electrical Engineering
• Biophysics

Background:

• The effective multipole (EM) method is widely used for modeling dielectrophoresis (DEP).
• Current EM methods are limited to spherical objects in arbitrary electric fields.
• This shape restriction hinders the application of EM methods to complex systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a method for real-time computation of multipolar moments for arbitrary object shapes and compositions.
• To enable efficient calculation of dielectrophoresis forces and torques for non-spherical objects.
• To extend the applicability of the EM method in microfluidic and biophysical applications.

Main Methods:

• Exploiting the orthonormality of spherical harmonics to extract multipolar moments from numerical simulations.
• Pre-computing moments offline for a basis set of electric fields.
• Utilizing the superposition principle for online, real-time calculations.

Main Results:

• A novel approach for online computation of multipolar moments for arbitrary shapes and inhomogeneous compositions.
• Validation of the model against Maxwell stress tensor numerical solutions.
• Demonstration of the method's utility in electrorotation simulations with a Tetris-shaped object.

Conclusions:

• The developed method significantly expands the capabilities of the effective multipole approach for dielectrophoresis.
• Real-time force and torque calculations are now feasible for complex geometries.
• The approach facilitates advanced applications, including model-based control in microfluidic devices.