Dissertation
MODELING AND SIMULATION OF OSMOTIC PHENOMENA THE APPLICATION OF PLANT PHLOEM IN MICROFLUIDICS
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2015
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/118431
Abstract
Biological systems have been of interest for scientists in applying concepts to artificial devices towards solving everyday problems. In this dissertation we present work done towards studying plant phloem and applying concepts in a microfluidic device for self-sustained pumping. First, we developed a 2D model to study flow through phloem. Due to limitations in the 2D model we derive quasi-1D equations. The quasi-1D model was used to study parameters influencing transporter proteins in plant phloem. Based on the numerical results the rate of pumping is significantly dependent on proton concentration.
With a better understanding of parameters influence flow through plant phloem we then applied these concepts to a microfluidic device. We propose a light powered micropump utilizing Bacteriorhodopsin to convert light energy into a proton gradient. The proton gradient is then used by sugar transporter proteins to move sucrose molecules which will drive fluid flow. We numerically model the performance of our proposed micropump. Numerical results indicate this pump is capable of generating high pressure head.
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Details
- Title
- MODELING AND SIMULATION OF OSMOTIC PHENOMENA THE APPLICATION OF PLANT PHLOEM IN MICROFLUIDICS
- Creators
- Tsun-kay Jackie Sze
- Contributors
- Prashanta Dutta (Advisor)Soumik Banerjee (Committee Member)Michael Knoblauch (Committee Member)Jin Liu (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 98
- Identifiers
- 99900581732801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation