Browsing by Subject "Flow rate"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

An Automated Microfluidic Multiplexer for Fast Delivery of C. elegans Populations from Multiwells
(PLOS One, 2013-09-17) Navid Ghorashian; Sertan Kutal Gokce; Sam Xun Guo; William Neil Everett; Adela Ben-Yakar
Automated biosorter platforms, including recently developed microfluidic devices, enable and accelerate high-throughput and/or high-resolution bioassays on small animal models. However, time-consuming delivery of different organism populations to these systems introduces a major bottleneck to executing large-scale screens. Current population delivery strategies rely on suction from conventional well plates through tubing periodically exposed to air, leading to certain disadvantages: 1) bubble introduction to the sample, interfering with analysis in the downstream system, 2) substantial time drain from added bubble-cleaning steps, and 3) the need for complex mechanical systems to manipulate well plate position. To address these concerns, we developed a multiwell-format microfluidic platform that can deliver multiple distinct animal populations from on-chip wells using multiplexed valve control. This Population Delivery Chip could operate autonomously as part of a relatively simple setup that did not require any of the major mechanical moving parts typical of plate-handling systems to address a given well. We demonstrated automatic serial delivery of 16 distinct C. elegans worm populations to a single outlet without introducing any bubbles to the samples, causing cross-contamination, or damaging the animals. The device achieved delivery of more than 90% of the population preloaded into a given well in 4.7 seconds; an order of magnitude faster than delivery modalities in current use. This platform could potentially handle other similarly sized model organisms, such as zebrafish and drosophila larvae or cellular micro-colonies. The device’s architecture and microchannel dimensions allow simple expansion for processing larger numbers of populations.
Design and development of an X-ray sensor to measure the density and flow rate of drilling fluids in high pressure lines
(2018-12) Singhal, Vivek, Ph. D.; Oort, Eric van; Chen, Dongmei; Bovik, Alan C; Barr, Ronald E; DiCarlo, David
There is a need for advanced technology that can accurately measure the density and mass flow rate of drilling fluids at the high pressure well inlet in real-time. Current reliance on antiquated metering technologies such as the pressurized mud balance and the pump stroke counter to make these measurements greatly impedes our ability to accurately predict the near well bore pressure profile and measure the delta flow rate, which is one of the primary indicators for trouble events such as kicks or lost circulation. In order to address this gap in technology an X-ray sensor was developed to make real-time measurements at greater than 99% percent accuracy and 1 Hz measurement frequency. The X-ray sensor can measure the density of drilling fluids in the 8 ppg to 20 ppg range and with flow rates of up to 1200 gpm. These measurements are made using 320 kV/1500W polychromatic X-ray source, which is well within the range of readily available industrial X-ray tubes. In the past such measurements would require X-ray voltages that could only be achieved with linear accelerators thereby making the cost and size of equipment non-conducive to the drilling environment. However, recent advances in pipe manufacturing, particularly using a class of low density and high pressure materials known as carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CRPs) and, are now making it viable to re-visit relatively low cost X-rays systems for density and mass flowrate measurements. Windows constructed from CRPs allow us to bypass the high density carbon steel standpipe and make measurements at voltages that do not require a linear accelerator. In this paper we discuss the design and implementation of a CRP based X-ray sensor that is used to measure drilling mud density and mass flowrate at the high pressure well inlet.
Limits on Replenishment of the Resting CD4+ T Cell Reservoir for HIV in Patients on HAART
(Public Library of Science, 2007-03-31) Sedaghat, Ahmad R; Siliciano, Janet D; Brennan, Timothy P; Wilke, Claus O; Siliciano, Robert F
Whereas cells productively infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) decay rapidly in the setting of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), latently infected resting CD4+ T cells decay very slowly, persisting for the lifetime of the patient and thus forming a stable reservoir for HIV-1. It has been suggested that the stability of the latent reservoir is due to low-level viral replication that continuously replenishes the reservoir despite HAART. Here, we offer the first quantitative study to our knowledge of inflow of newly infected cells into the latent reservoir due to viral replication in the setting of HAART. We make use of a previous observation that in some patients on HAART, the residual viremia is dominated by a predominant plasma clone (PPC) of HIV-1 not found in the latent reservoir. The unique sequence of the PPC serves as a functional label for new entries into the reservoir. We employ a simple mathematical model for the dynamics of the latent reservoir to constrain the inflow rate to between 0 and as few as 70 cells per day. The magnitude of the maximum daily inflow rate is small compared to the size of the latent reservoir, and therefore any inflow that occurs in patients on HAART is unlikely to significantly influence the decay rate of the reservoir. These results suggest that the stability of the latent reservoir is unlikely to arise from ongoing replication during HAART. Thus, intensification of standard HAART regimens should have minimal effects on the decay of the latent reservoir.
Shear-induced emulsions stabilized with surface-modified silica nanoparticles
(2011-05) Roberts, Matthew Ryan; Bryant, Steven L.; Huh, Chun
The ability of surface-treated silica nanoparticles to stabilize oil/water emulsions presents us with many interesting avenues of study. The goal of this research is to assess the ability of a dispersion of specially surface-treated nanoparticles to stabilize an oil/water emulsion of prescribed internal structure created by flow within a fracture. We hypothesize that for a set of conditions (nanoparticle concentration, salinity, aqueous to organic phase ratio) a critical shear rate exists. That is, for flow rates that exceed this critical shear rate, an emulsion can be created. Flow experiments were conducted within fractured Boise sandstone and cement cylinders. The Boise sandstone core (D = 1 in and L = 12 in) was cut down its length and propped open to a specific aperture with beads. The fracture was saturated with dodecane then displaced with nanoparticle dispersion, and vice versa while pressure drop across the fracture was recorded. Class H cement cylinders (D = 1 in and L = 3 in) were allowed to set, then failed in compression to create a rough-walled fracture along their length. These fractured cement cylinders were then sealed and encased in epoxy to isolate the fractures. CT scans of the encased fractures were used to determine the aperture width, which is utilized when calculating the shear rate inside of the fracture maintained during an experiment. A dispersion of surface-modified silica nanoparticles and decane were coinjected into both the Boise sandstone and cement fractures and the pressure drop was measured across the fractures at a variety of shear rates. The effluent of each experiment was collected in sample tubes. Observation of the effluent and pressure drop data both support our hypothesis of emulsion generation being possible once a critical shear rate has been reached. Alteration of the injected phase ratio and increased residence time of the two phases inside of a fracture both affect the amount of emulsification occurring within the fractures. Increasing the residence time of both phases within a fracture allows for more opportunities for emulsification to occur, resulting in a greater amount of emulsion to be generated. Injection of high or low volumetric ratios of nanoparticle dispersion to organic phase results in little amounts of emulsion generation; however, between the nanoparticle dispersion to organic phase ratios of 0.25:1 and 2:1 significant amounts of emulsion are generated.