Thermal modelling of Ohmic heating microreactors

This paper describes the static and transient thermal modelling of an Ohmic heating microreactor for biological sample processing for the purpose of genetic analysis. Precise thermal management can be used for the effective preparation of analyte DNA molecules prior to detection. Due to the small dimensions of the microreactor, the direct measurement and monitoring of the temperature distribution presents a challenge. To overcome this, thermal modelling has been used to accurately predict the thermal behaviour of the microreactor and sample component. It is further possible to calculate the required input power levels and provide design criteria to optimise the design of the microreactor. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.