Microfluidic Power Generation

This thesis includes the detailed mathematical calculations used to determine the feasibility of harnessing electrical energy from the blood flow through human capillaries. The designs are inspired by human physiology and well established electromagnetic energy harvesting techniques and the fabrication methods have been proposed for the various components of the device. The fabrication and the design of these components have also been extensively analyzed using calculations based on the governing principles of microfluidics, kinetics, and electromagnetics. The analysis has confirmed that this design can produce sufficient energy to power a MEMS device using non-standard materials and fabrication methods. The designs were based on a standard hydroelectric dam model, modified to account for the biological aspects. Nickel and gold were selected as the primary components of the electromagnetic portion of the device because of their electromagnetic properties and the ability to deposit and pattern them. Of the four portions of the device, the coil was fully fabricated, experiments were conducted for the fabrication of the stator and the microchannels and the proposed fabrication method was explained for the turbine. Three sets of the gold induction coils were fabricated, each with different thicknesses, but the same width and length. Since the resistance of the coil is determined by the resistivity of the material and the dimensions, the cross-sectional area of these coils determined the differences in resistance. As predicted, the average resistance increased as thickness decreased. However, the resistance was greater than calculated for the two thinner coil sets due to fabrication methods