Rapid & controlled manufacturing of microfluidic devices using hot embossing

Microfluidics are becoming commonplace in research and medicine, particularly in point-of-care diagnostics and drug development. Many manufacturing methods exist for such devices, but initial setup can be costly and slow, hindering the ability to quickly iterate on designs. Hot embossing has previously been demonstrated to have low capital costs and high flexibility. This work focuses on leveraging this flexibility to implement a closed-loop feedback controller within an automated hot embossing manufacturing cell. Three families of controllers are implemented and analyzed for compatibility with this system. The first is based on a classic discrete integral controller. The second extends this work by developing a method for optimizing the system outputs. The third combines statistical methods and traditional process control to suit the non-linear embossing process. Finally, preliminary experiments demonstrate the ability of the hot embossing system to replicate nano-scale features, providing the future opportunity to manufacture nanofluidic devices with the same equipment and methodology as microfluidic devices.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Chamberlain, Peter T. (Peter Thomas)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David E. Hardt.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104143

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/104143