A numerical study of an electrothermal vortex enhanced micromixer

Temperature gradients aroused from the Joule heating in a non-uniform electrical field can induce inhomogeneities of electric conductivity and permittivity of the electrolyte, thus causing an electrothermal force that generates flow motion. A 2D numerical investigation of a micromixer, utilizing electrothermal effect to enhance its mixing efficiency, is proposed in this paper. Results for temperature and velocity distributions, as well as sample concentration distribution are obtained for an electrolyte solution in a microchannel with different pairs of electrodes under AC potentials with various frequencies. Numerical solutions were first carried out for one pair of electrodes, with a length of 10 mu m separated by a gap of 10 mu m, on one side wall of a microchannel having a length of 200 mu m and a height of 50 mu m. It is found that the electrothermal flow effect, in the frequency range for which Coulomb force is predominant, induces vortex motion near the electrodes, thus stirring the flow streams and enhancing its mixing efficiency. If more than one pair of electrodes is located on the opposite walls of the microchannel, the mixing efficiency depends on the AC potential applied pattern and the electrodes arrangement pattern. The distance between two pairs of electrodes on two opposite walls is then optimized numerically. Sample mixing efficiencies, using KCl solutions as the working fluid in microchannels with different number of electrodes pairs at optimal electrodes arrangement pattern, are also investigated. If root mean squared voltages of 10 V in an AC frequency range of 0.1-10 MHz are imposed on 16 pairs of electrodes separated at an optimal distance, the numerical results show that a mixing efficiency of 98% can be achieved at the end of the microchannel having a length of 700 mu m and a height of 50 mu m at Re = 0.01 Pe(C) = 100, and Pe(T) = 0.07. However, the mixing efficiency decreases sharply at a frequency higher than 10 MHz owing to the drastically decrease in the Coulomb force.