Abstract:

With the development of modern biology, modern medicine and other disciplines, the requirements on the micro volume, high speed and stability, super precision of the droplet dispenser are highly demanded. The droplet dispensers are developed on the basis of the droplet breakup physics. According to the characteristics, five kinds of droplet breakup regimes are identified as the drop-on-demand, the Rayleigh, the first wind-induced, the second wind-induced and the atomization regimes. The research status and key characteristic parameters of these droplet breakup modes are analyzed and different mathematical models and numerical computational methods for these modes are compared. The droplet breakup features for non-Newtonian fluid are presented as well. For representative droplet dispensing systems, the internal movement mechanisms, the dispensing characteristics and the corresponding applications are summarized and compared. Based on the fore discussion, the hot issues and the development trends for the droplet breakup physics and the droplet dispensing technologies are given.

Key words: droplet dispensing, drop-on-demand, jetting, Rayleigh breakup, droplet breakup