Selective Scaling-out of a Serpentine Micromixer: Scaling Criteria

A serpentine micromixer (SMM) is a high-efficiency chaotic micromixer due to the high mixing efficiency caused by the Dean flow. A novel scaling method, the selective scaling-out strategy, can be used to significantly increase fluxes, facilitating the application of SMMs in industrial production. However, no criteria for the selective scale-out of SMMs are available. In this article, a series of scaled-out SMMs were numerically studied at fluxes of up to 150 mL/min. The hydrodynamic properties of these SMMs were investigated using the residence time distribution (RTD), Euler number, shape factor, Peclet number, and mass-averaged energy dissipation rate. As a result, three scaling criteria were determined to characterize the pressure drop, RTD characteristics (variance and mean residence time), and degree of micromixing during the scale-out of SMMs. The three scaling criteria can help designers easily scale out an SMM and facilitate the application of SMMs in large-scale production.