CFD INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF HEATER SPACING ON DNA AMPLIFICATION AND PRESSURE DROP IN A MICROFLUIDIC PCR DEVICE

摘要: The development of Polymerase Chain Reaction Mullis et al. in 1986 [1](PCR) has played an important role in the progress of molecular diagnostics, enabling the rapid DNA amplification through a series of repeated cycles. Considering the wide use of PCR devices in research, there is a great need to optimize their performance. This study focuses on the optimisation of continuous flow (CF) PCR device with serpentine-channel structure that utilises three copper wire heaters. The spacings between the heaters of the microfluidic (µ) channel are selected as the design variables, while the two objective functions of interest are the DNA amplification efficiency and total pressure drop of one PCR unitcell. Several simulations are performed using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4®, varying the two design variables, and the values of the two objective functions are recorded. A polyharmonic spline is used to generate the response surfaces, while a genetic algorithm is used to obtain the optimum design solutions. The results indicate that there is the possibility of increasing the DNA concentration and the pressure drop by∼ 0.8% and∼ 8.6% respectively for a single PCR cycle, by modifying the distances between the three heaters.