title: A flux monitoring method for easy and accurate flow rate measurement in pressure-driven flows.
abstract: We propose a low-cost and versatile method to measure flow rate in microfluidic channels under pressure-driven flows, thereby providing a simple characterization of the hydrodynamic permeability of the system. The technique is inspired by the current monitoring method usually employed to characterize electro-osmotic flows, and makes use of the measurement of the time-dependent electric resistance inside the channel associated with a moving salt front. We have successfully tested the method in a micrometer-size channel, as well as in a complex microfluidic channel with a varying cross-section, demonstrating its ability in detecting internal shape variations.
authors.affiliation: LPMCN, UMR 5586, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France. alessandro.siria@univ-lyon1.fr
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siria
authors.forename: Anne-Laure
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Biance
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ybert
authors.forename: Lydéric
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bocquet