Method for non-contact particle manipulation and control of particle spacing along an axis
View Patent ↗Method and system for uniformly spacing particles in a flowing system comprising suspending particles in an elongated fluid filled cavity; exposing said cavity to an axial acoustic standing wave field, wherein said axial acoustic standing wave field drives said particles to nodal and anti-nodal positions along the center axis of said cavity to result in uniformly spaced particles; and focusing said particles to the center axis of said cavity.
1. A method of uniformly spacing particles in an open flowing system comprising:
a) suspending particles in an elongated fluid filled cavity and flowing said fluid;
b) exposing said cavity to an axial acoustic standing wave field parallel to the direction of flow, wherein said axial acoustic standing wave field drives said particles to nodal and anti-nodal positions along the center axis of said cavity to result in uniformly spaced particles; and
c) focusing said particles to the center axis of said cavity.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the focusing of said particles occurs by means of hydrodynamic focusing, acoustic focusing, a magnetic field, an electric field, a gravitational field, an optical field, or combinations thereof.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the focusing of said particles occurs by means of hydrodynamic focusing.
4. The method of claim 1 further including exposing said cavity to a non-uniform dielectric-inducing electric field, wherein said electric field controls the distance between the uniformly spaced particles.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said non-uniform dielectric-inducing electric field is a created by a lead zirconate titanate transducer having a nonuniform active electrode surface at the transducer/fluid interface.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particles are focused to the center axis of the cavity prior to exposure to the axial acoustic standing wave field.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said axial acoustic standing wave field is created by a piezoelectric source.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said fluid is a saline solution.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said cavity in a shaft made of glass, quartz, or combinations thereof.
10. The method of claim 1 , further including:
sensing changes in pressure inside said cavity, wherein said sensing occurs in a pressure sensor; and adjusting the frequencies of said acoustic standing wave field to compensate for said pressure changes.