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Three-dimensional printed liquid diodes with tunable velocity: Design guidelines and applications for liquid collection and transport

Sammartino, Camilla; Rennick, Michael; Kusumaatmaja, Halim; Pinchasik, Bat-El

Three-dimensional printed liquid diodes with tunable velocity: Design guidelines and applications for liquid collection and transport Thumbnail


Authors

Camilla Sammartino

Bat-El Pinchasik



Abstract

Directional and self-propelled flow in open channels has a variety of applications, including microfluidic and medical devices, industrial filtration processes, fog-harvesting, and condensing apparatuses. Here, we present versatile three-dimensional-printed liquid diodes that enable spontaneous unidirectional flow over long distances for a wide range of liquid contact angles (CAs). Typically, we can achieve average flow velocities of several millimeters per second over a distance of tens to hundreds millimeters. The diodes have two key design principles. First, a sudden widening in the channels' width, in combination with a small bump, the pitch, ensure pinning of the liquid in the backward direction. Second, an adjustable reservoir with differing expansion angles, the bulga, is introduced to manipulate the liquid velocity. Using a combination of experiments and lattice Boltzmann simulations, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the flow behavior and speed within the channels depending on CAs, pitch heights, and bulga angles. This provides guidelines for the fabrication of bespoke liquid diodes with optimal design for their potential applications. As a feasibility investigation, we test our design for condensation of water from fog and subsequent transport uphill.

Citation

Sammartino, C., Rennick, M., Kusumaatmaja, H., & Pinchasik, B. (2022). Three-dimensional printed liquid diodes with tunable velocity: Design guidelines and applications for liquid collection and transport. Physics of Fluids, 34(11), https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0122281

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 30, 2022
Online Publication Date Nov 7, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Mar 6, 2023
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Physics of Fluids
Print ISSN 1070-6631
Electronic ISSN 1089-7666
Publisher American Institute of Physics
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 34
Issue 11
DOI https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0122281

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