Digital droplet infusion

Abstract

A low-cost portable digital droplet infusion system can be modularized and implemented for high-precision infusion drug delivery.

Droplet Laplace valve‐enabled glaucoma implant for intraocular pressure management

“…These results confirm that the flow and pressure‐control characteristics of the DLVs are highly linear; thus, they can be predictable and customizable. Notably, these results are consistent with our previous studies using the flow discretization principle for microflow measurements 27,28 . When the flow rate is low and the fluid is inviscid, the process of droplet coalescence and pinch‐off is governed by capillarity, and the droplet transfer volume in each flow discretization event is approximately a flow‐independent geometry‐governed constant 27,28 .…”

“…Herein, we propose a novel microvalve concept, referred to as the droplet Laplace valve (DLV), for reliable IOP management in glaucoma implants, which has several distinct features such as a customizable threshold valving pressure and consistent opening/ closing pressures, a purely passive valving mechanism without any moving parts and high repeatability, and a three-dimensional (3D)-printable simple architecture and linear flow properties for predictable pressure-control characteristics. The DLV adopts a droplet digital flow discretization mechanism and an intrinsic capillary bi-singularity (CBS) principle previously introduced by our group for the ultraprecision microflow measurement, [27][28][29][30][31] in which a capillarity-dominated flow discretization unit has been used. Specifically, the flow discretization unit comprises a droplet-forming nozzle and a separated reservoir to digitize continuous flow into quantifiable droplets, involving a simple valve architecture and no moving parts.…”

Development of smart infusion pumps: State of the art and future perspectives

“…However, the volume of the air pump drive device is relatively large, so further discussion is needed on the impact of the verticality of the liquid level on the accuracy of the infrared drip speed sensor. Fang et al 24 used digital droplet infusion technology instead of the technologies of peristaltic pumps and injection pumps to achieve precise drug delivery with ultra-high sensitivity and resolution. Digital droplet infusion devices can be quickly assembled using off-the-shelf components and 3D-printed parts, achieving a commonly used flow range of 0.1–10 mL/h in clinical micro-infusion, with a resolution as low as 57 nL per single droplet volume.…”

Free‐Boundary Microfluidic Platform for Advanced Materials Manufacturing and Applications

“…[292] The principle is that a needle moves periodically across an interface between gas and liquid and produces uniform-sized microdroplets when it breaks the liquid bridge upon leaving the interface (Figure 7A). [57,59,[288][289][290][291][292][293][294][295][296][297][298][299][300] The droplet size can be predicted precisely by…”

“…[ 292 ] The principle is that a needle moves periodically across an interface between gas and liquid and produces uniform‐sized microdroplets when it breaks the liquid bridge upon leaving the interface ( Figure A). [ 57,59,288–300 ] The droplet size can be predicted precisely by $$$$\begin{equation}D = {[6Q/(\pi f)]}^{1/3}\end{equation}$$$$…”