Viscometers are extensively utilized for a wide variety of sensing and monitoring applications like biomedical diagnostics, biochemical optimization, fluid adulteration detection and quality control in pharmaceuticals. Realizing the viscometer in the lab-on-chip/microfluidic domain increases its potential to be a point-of-care device by making it completely automated and robust. This work presents the development of a simplified, cost-effective and time efficient 3D Printed (3DP) Electro-Microfluidic Viscometer (EMV), with microchannel and intersecting electrodes, in a single-step process. A completely automated, integrated and handheld EMV was realized and comprised an in-house made 3DP peristaltic pump and motherboard of a microcontroller, along with a display unit and the microcontroller to estimate viscosity. Here, the viscosity values of bovine serum albumin (BSA), human serum albumin (HSA), and lysozyme enzyme were measured with respect to the reference fluid before and after denaturation. The developed device is capable of measuring viscosity values ranging from 0.5 cP to 10 cP. These values are within a ±6% limit when compared with a benchtop viscometer, showing the commercial potential of the present device with innumerable add-on features.

中文翻译：

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具有集成微控制器和泵送系统的电微流体粘度计，适用于护理点生物传感应用


粘度计广泛用于各种传感和监测应用，例如生物医学诊断、生化优化、液体掺假检测和药品质量控制。在芯片实验室/微流体领域实现粘度计，使其完全自动化且坚固耐用，从而增加了其成为护理点设备的潜力。这项工作展示了一种简化、经济高效且省时的 3D 打印 (3DP) 电微流体粘度计 (EMV)，具有微通道和交叉电极，只需一步即可完成。实现了完全自动化、集成和手持式 EMV，包括内部制造的 3DP 蠕动泵和微控制器主板，以及显示单元和用于估计粘度的微控制器。这里，相对于变性前后的标准液测量牛血清白蛋白(BSA)、人血清白蛋白(HSA)和溶菌酶的粘度值。开发的设备能够测量 0.5 cP 至 10 cP 的粘度值。与台式粘度计相比，这些值在 ±6% 的范围内，显示了本设备具有无数附加功能的商业潜力。