Selective Particle Filtering in a Large Acoustophoretic Serpentine Channel

The objective of this study is to investigate the performance of a serpentine channel for acoustically driven selective particle filtering. The channel consists of sharp corners and straight sections, and the acoustic field is affecting the particles throughout the channel. A prototype of the separator channel is manufactured using 3D printing. Acoustic waves are generated by a piezoelectric transducer operating near 2 MHz. Computer simulations are carried out to explore and visualize the flow field and acoustic field in the separator. Selective particle trapping is aimed to be achieved in the hairpin sections, which is confirmed by experiments. Spherical polyethylene particles of 34 µm, 70 µm and 100 µm diameter are used to demonstrate selective trapping by adjusting the flow rate in the channel or voltage input to the transducer. In addition, wheat beer containing yeast up to 20 µm size is selectively filtered by adjusting the flow rate to the channel. Experiments demonstrate that selective particle filtering is possible in the serpentine channel as both methods yield clear separation thresholds.