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Active Mixer

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Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics

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Synonyms

Active mixing; Dynamic mixing

Definition

The term “active mixer” or “active micromixer” refers to a microfluidic device in which species mixing is enhanced by the application of some form of external energy disturbance. Typically, this disturbance is generated either by moving components within the micromixer itself, e.g., magnetically actuated stirrers, or by the application of an external force field, e.g., pressure, ultrasound, acoustic, electrohydrodynamic, electrokinetic, dielectrophoretic, magnetohydrodynamic, thermal, and so forth [1, 2].

Overview

Mixing occurs in many natural phenomena, including geophysical, ocean, and atmospheric flows, and is also an important step in industrial processes involving chemical reactions, fermentation reactions, combustion, and so forth. Traditionally, industrial mixing applications have always been performed using large-scale apparatus. However, in recent years, microscale devices (commonly referred to as microfluidic devices) have...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, University Road, 41216R, ES Department Building 2F, Tainan city, Taiwan

    Chih-Chang Chang & Ruey-Jen Yang

  2. Graduate Institute of Materials Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan

    Lung-Ming Fu

Authors
  1. Chih-Chang Chang
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  2. Lung-Ming Fu
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  3. Ruey-Jen Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruey-Jen Yang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. VU Station B 351592, Vanderbilt University Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

    Dongqing Li

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Cite this entry

Chang, CC., Fu, LM., Yang, RJ. (2013). Active Mixer. In: Li, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27758-0_16-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27758-0_16-6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27758-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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