Microfluidic Liquid Flow Meter

Bronkhorst High-Tech BV designed their new LIQUI-FLOW mini Mass Flow Meter for liquids according to the concept of microfluidics. The use of microfluidic devices for research and analytical purposes has some important advantages. Firstly, because the internal volumes within the instruments are very small, the analysis will be faster and the amount of (expensive) reagents and analytes used can be reduced. Furthermore, the physical dimensions are much smaller than those of conventional devices. This enables Life Sciences system integrators to downscale the size, inherently reducing the costs of ownership, of their equipment. Also, the miniature-sized and lightweight instruments are suitable for application in portable systems.

The very compact instrument measures ultra low flow ranges from 1.5-75mg/h (0.025-1.25μl/min) up to 12-600mg/h, based on water. The straight, duplex steel sensor tube has an internal volume of less than 1mm3 and operates on the thermal measuring principle. Due to its high pressure rating (up to 1000 bar) the flow meter is suited to HPLC systems. The LIQUI-FLOW mini is equipped with a microprocessor-based printed circuit board, offering high accuracy and excellent temperature stability. The RJ45 connection is used for power supply and for both analogue and digital (RS232) communication.