Effect of a rotating frame on preventing bead aggregation in a microfluidic device

Varying bead concentrations over the course of experiments have been reported by many scientists. A new device was designed and fabricated to eliminate bead aggregation in a syringe pump prior to flowing through a microchannel. We have molded the effects of rotation in the absence of longitudinal flow by evenly populating the cross section of a syringe with particles, then tracking their movement due to rotation, gravity, and centripetal forces. We have shown both experimentally and numerically that the concentration of the beads remains constant over the course of experiments once the rotational device is used. However, the concentration of the beads drops significantly once no rotation is applied during the experiment.