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Thermal conductivity measurement of liquids in a microfluidic device

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Abstract

A new microfluidic-based approach to measuring liquid thermal conductivity is developed to address the requirement in many practical applications for measurements using small (microlitre) sample size and integration into a compact device. The approach also gives the possibility of high-throughput testing. A resistance heater and temperature sensor are incorporated into a glass microfluidic chip to allow transmission and detection of a planar thermal wave crossing a thin layer of the sample. The device is designed so that heat transfer is locally one-dimensional during a short initial time period. This allows the detected temperature transient to be separated into two distinct components: a short-time, purely one-dimensional part from which sample thermal conductivity can be determined and a remaining long-time part containing the effects of three-dimensionality and of the finite size of surrounding thermal reservoirs. Identification of the one-dimensional component yields a steady temperature difference from which sample thermal conductivity can be determined. Calibration is required to give correct representation of changing heater resistance, system layer thicknesses and solid material thermal conductivities with temperature. In this preliminary study, methanol/water mixtures are measured at atmospheric pressure over the temperature range 30–50°C. The results show that the device has produced a measurement accuracy of within 2.5% over the range of thermal conductivity and temperature of the tests. A relation between measurement uncertainty and the geometric and thermal properties of the system is derived and this is used to identify ways that error could be further reduced.

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Notes

  1. Equation 6 uses a time shift, t 0, in place of actual short-time exponential terms to represent the delay in the arrival of the thermal wave to the sensor position. It is interesting to note that the alternative fitting function using just a single additional short time exponential mode: \( T(t)-T_{0}=\Updelta T_{1}\left({1-e^{{-t}/{\tau_{1}}}}\right)-{\Updelta}T_{2}\left({1-e^{{-t}/{\tau_{2}}}}\right)+\gamma t \) gives an equally good fit to the data. This could be used in place of Eq. 6 with the steady-state temperature rise given by ΔT = ΔT 1 − ΔT 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    D. Kuvshinov, M. R. Bown, J. M. MacInnes & R. W. K. Allen

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    R. Ge, L. Aldous & C. Hardacre

  3. School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    N. Doy, M. I. Newton & G. McHale

Authors
  1. D. Kuvshinov
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  2. M. R. Bown
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  3. J. M. MacInnes
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  4. R. W. K. Allen
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  5. R. Ge
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  6. L. Aldous
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  7. C. Hardacre
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  8. N. Doy
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  9. M. I. Newton
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  10. G. McHale
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. M. MacInnes.

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Kuvshinov, D., Bown, M.R., MacInnes, J.M. et al. Thermal conductivity measurement of liquids in a microfluidic device. Microfluid Nanofluid 10, 123–132 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0652-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0652-x

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