Design and Performance Analysis of Spiral Microchannels for Efficient Particle Separation Using Inertial...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Cell Separation Technology

Background:

• Microfluidic devices are vital for biomedical applications, but performance enhancement faces computational and experimental hurdles.
• Efficient separation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and red blood cells (RBCs) is critical for cancer diagnostics and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To optimize microfluidic spiral channel designs for enhanced CTC and RBC separation.
• To identify key design parameters influencing separation efficiency using resource-efficient methods.

Main Methods:

• Systematic variation of spiral microchannel parameters including loop number, aspect ratio, radius, flow rate, surface roughness, and particle size.
• Utilized COMSOL Multiphysics for simulations and the Taguchi method for efficient experimental design and analysis.
• Fabrication via 3D-printing and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) casting to validate the optimized design.

Main Results:

• The optimal configuration featured an aspect ratio of 3.333, four loops, 6-7 mm spiral radius, 3 mL/min flow rate, 1 μm surface roughness, and 24 μm particle diameter.
• Aspect ratio was the most influential parameter (61.2%), followed by loop number (13.9%) and flow rate (9.4%).
• Achieved high separation efficiency (97.5%) and purity (97.6%) for CTCs from RBCs.

Conclusions:

• The optimized spiral microfluidic device offers a robust and scalable solution for efficient CTC and RBC separation.
• This integrated simulation and experimental approach provides a framework for developing advanced microfluidic devices for diagnostics and therapeutics.