Rapid mixing in microchannel using standing bulk acoustic waves

We present a technique for mixing the fluids in a microchannel using ultrasonic waves. Acoustic mixing is driven by the acoustic body force, which depends on the density gradient and speed of the sound gradient of the inhomogeneous fluid domain. In this work, mixing of fluids in a microchannel is achieved via an alternating multinode mixing method, which employs acoustic multinode standing waves of time-varying wavelengths at regular time intervals. The proposed technique is rapid, efficient, and found to enhance the mixing of fluids significantly. It is shown that the mixing time due to acoustic mixing (2-3 s) is reduced by two orders of magnitude compared to the mixing time only due to diffusion (400 s). Furthermore, we investigate the effects of the acoustic mixing on different fluid flow configurations and sound wave propagation directions as they have a direct influence on mixing time and have rarely been addressed previously. Remarkably, it is found that mixing performance is strongly dependent on the direction of the acoustic wave propagation. The acoustic field propagated parallel to the fluid-fluid interface mixes fluids rapidly (2-3 s) as compared to the acoustic field propagated perpendicular to the fluid-fluid interface (40 s).