Existing fluid handling devices are
often inadequately adapted to the manipulation of small
fluid volumes.
Pressure or volume flow control?
Syringe or peristaltic pumps may seem suitable for
applications requiring knowledge of the transported
fluid volumes. However, due to hysteresis and
connections compliance, actual instantaneous flows in
microchannels often have little to do with the pump's
setting. As shown below, the flow rate imposed by a
syringe pump strongly depends on the tubing and
microsystem characteristics. One may have stable flow
rate but with very large equilibrium time, in some case
exceeding hours (with elastic tubing) or at the other
extremity, short response time can be achieved (with
rigid tubing) but important pulsations due to mechanical
hysteresis appear.
Controlling flows with FASTAB technology leads to a
completely different behaviour. The time response is no
longer dependent of the compliance of the tubing and the
microsystem: as soon as the dynamic pressure is applied,
the effect is instantaneous in the whole device.
Besides, in many cases, calculating flows in a
microfluidic network controlled by the MFCS Flow
sequencer is easier and more accurate than using
volume-based pumps.
FASTAB technology
To address this problem, FLUIGENT developed the
MFCS microfluidics flow control systems and accessories,
based on the proprietary FASTAB technology. The MFCS
resulting from Fastab technology is not a simple
pressure controller. It is an easy and fast means to
handle fluids, whilst still allowing the measurement of
the flow with a flow meter.
In the nanolitre range, the use of syringe, peristaltic or piston pumps, leads
to hysteresis, long equilibration times, irreproducibility and pulsing. Existing
fluid handling devices are thus often inadequately adapted to the manipulation
of small fluid volumes.
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+45 (0)36 988 355
Flow
Control
