AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
How Small Can We Go: Exploring the Limitations and Scaling Laws of Air-Microfluidic Particulate Matter Sensors
OMID MAHDAVIPOUR, Ben Gould, Dorsa Fahimi, David Liederman, Son Duy Nguyen, David Woolsey, Paul A. Solomon, Richard White, Lara Gundel, Igor Paprotny, University of Illinois at Chicago
Abstract Number: 511 Working Group: Control Technology
Abstract Air-microfluidics is a field that has the potential to dramatically reduce the size, cost, and power requirements of future air quality sensors. Microfabrication provides a suite of relatively new tools for the development of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) that can be applied to create sophisticated air-based lab-on-a-chip applications. Such devices have the potential to revolutionize the way we monitor air quality in a similar to how liquid lab-on-a-chip instruments revolutionized medical sciences. This presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of this technology, focusing on air-microfluidic sensors for particulate matter. It will describe some of the potential benefits, challenges, and limitations related to designing, building, and validating air-microfluidic circuits with particle-laden air as the working fluid. The examples shown in the presentation build on the continuing research of the Air-Microfluidic Group, a research consortium between University of Illinois at Chicago, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Challenges such as data validity and scalability will be addressed in the context of emerging citizen science initiatives.