Microfluidics - How do flows behave on a small scale and why does this help us?

Topic: Microfluidics - How do flows behave on a small scale and why does this benefit us’

Speaker: Prof. Christian Cierpka, TU Ilmenau, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Head of Engineering Thermodynamics

Time: Friday, 06.12.2024, 15:00 h

Place: TU Ilmenau, Faradaybau, Weimarer Straße 32

Admission: 5 Euro

Unlike us humans, an ant survives a fall from a great height unscathed, but has to be careful not to get trapped in a raindrop, even though the same physics applies to both humans and ants. This is because the ratio of forces - in this case volume and surface forces - changes significantly when systems are scaled down. If fluid mechanical systems are scaled down, effects can therefore occur and be exploited that enable completely new process engineering systems and methods. For example, flows can be driven by applying acoustic, magnetic or electric fields, the smallest particles and cells can be sorted and chemical reactions can be precisely controlled.

In order to understand such effects, the group led by Prof. Cierpka, Head of Engineering Thermodynamics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at TU Ilmenau, has long been using innovative measurement techniques and numerical methods to characterize microfluidic systems for particle manipulation and energy conversion. In his lecture at the TU Ilmenau Bürgercampus, Prof. Cierpka will shed light on the astonishing phenomena of microfluidics using examples from his own current research and describe their benefits for us humans.