SPHERICAL-PARTICLE SORTING BY USING DROPLET DEFLECTION TECHNOLOGY

Although the fundamental principle of a cell sorter is based on the in k jet printer, it has developed and retains own important technologies . By adopting some of such technologies, we have evolved our inkjet pr inting system to new fields such as to a particle sorting system. The adopted technologies are the hydrodynamic focusing and optical detecti ng system of a particle within liquid flow. Experimental results revea led that hydrodynamic focusing of spherical particles is very effectiv e for optical sensing of a particle. However, there seems to exist par ticle size limitation for inner jet diameter. If the size exceeds this limitation, the droplet forming at the breakup position becomes unsta ble. It was shown in experiments that four different sizes of particle s can be sorted into four different collectors by using this sorting s ystem.