Short Notes on Particle Image Velocimetry for Micro/Nano Fluidic Measurements

C. Y. Lim and Francis E. H. Tay

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering,

3, Research Link, Singapore 117602.

Abstract

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) has emerged as an effective and mature tool for flow visualization and measurement technique for its non-intrusive nature. The basic working principle of a PIV system is deriving the flow velocity from particles’ motion in an interrogation window by determining the average displacement within a short period. This approach only yields velocity accuracy up to the first order and inherently assumes that particles travel freely while faithfully following the flow. We briefly discuss the application of PIV in micro/nano fluidic measurements by addressing several important issues, such as the limit of particle size, the limit of diffraction of light, and the instrumentation. Lastly, we include some research directions that we plan to carry out in future.

*Appear in Microfluidics and BioMEMS Applications, Ch. 11, Francis E. H. Tay ed. (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 2002).