Summer 2020 Internship at Formulatrix

After Freshman year I returned to the R&D department at Formulatrix, this time to research low cost flow measurement systems for the company’s new Liquid Handler, the FLO I8. This project took me through a wide variety of engineering topics including: Acyrlic micromachining, C for Arduino, microfluidics, basic PCB design, electrical component selection, international collaboration, and test equipment design.

The general principle of the flow sensor is identical to that of a resistive ammeter, create a restriction and measure the energy (pressure in this case) drop across it to find the flow rate.

A wide variety of pressure manifold designs were investigated for single and dual path flows (using PEEK restrictive tubing).

A wide variety of pressure manifold designs were investigated for single and dual path flows (using PEEK restrictive tubing).

Custom PCBs were manufactured to support a variety of sensor configurations. This design utilized a stainless steel orifice plate as its flow restriction.

Custom PCBs were manufactured to support a variety of sensor configurations. This design utilized a stainless steel orifice plate as its flow restriction.

A switching mechanism was developed to allow the system to select its desired flow rate range for a specific aspirate/dispense cycle.

A switching mechanism was developed to allow the system to select its desired flow rate range for a specific aspirate/dispense cycle.

An Arduino based testing system interfaced with the sensor and a custom syringe pump to repeatably qualify a given sensors restriction, allowing us to validate the governing equations of the system.

An Arduino based testing system interfaced with the sensor and a custom syringe pump to repeatably qualify a given sensors restriction, allowing us to validate the governing equations of the system.

Leak testing was critical to ensure assembly errors did not affect collected data.

Leak testing was critical to ensure assembly errors did not affect collected data.