Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
between them. The microrings have direct contact with each other, and the value
W
can be estimated as the average surface unevenness (microgrooves, absence of
flatness, etc.).
8.9.3 An Example of Filter Design
The main part of the proposed filter is the microring column. The filter design
contains a number of drums with grooves filled with microring columns. The drums
are assembled in such a way that each sequential drum is installed into the previous
drum. At the ends of the drums, two covers are installed, one of which has holes for
sending the input gas or liquid into the microring columns. The grooves of neigh-
boring drums are connected by holes for sending the output filtered gas or liquid
into the internal space of the smallest drum connected to the output filter hole. Such
a design may be used as a separate device or as part of a larger filter. To produce
such a filter, it is necessary to manufacture two covers, a set of drums, and a huge
number of microrings (Fig.
8.42
).
8.9.4 The Problems of Fine Filter Manufacturing
Let us consider a filter having ten drums, with each drum containing 100 grooves
and each groove containing 50 microrings. In this case, the total number of
microrings equals 50,000. The package, covers, and drums have a very simple
design that is not difficult to manufacture. The main problem of filter production,
because of the huge number of microrings, is to manufacture microrings and install
them into the drum grooves. We propose to manufacture the microrings by the usual
methods of material cutting using computer numerical controlled cutting micro-
machine tools and to install the microrings into drum grooves using a computer
numerical controlled assembly micromanipulator. It is practically impossible to
organize such a process using traditional mechanical equipment. For this, it is
necessary to develop micromechanical technology to produce the components of
the microfilter [
1
].
Fig. 8.42 Package of filter
