Divide et impera: Microfluidic flow distributors

In this study, the challenge of minimizing axial dispersion in on-chip transitions between channels of different diameters in addressed. Different flow distributors have been tested on their ability to distribute small sample volumes over the entire width of flat rectangular microfabricated pillar array columns. A good distribution is essential to make the transition from the narrow supply channels (10μm) to the broad separation column (1mm) and vice versa, if these newly developed microfabricated columns are to be connected to commercial injectors and detectors. Some general guidelines for distributor design were established experimentally and further optimization by means of CFD-simulations is described.