Volumetric measurements by image segmentation on centrifugal microfluidic platforms in motion

Abstract

An image segmentation based method was developed to perform volumetric measurements of liquid aliquots in centrifugal microfluidic platforms in motion. The method was designed to be as automated as possible to allow its applicability to the large variety of available design features that tend to be included on such platforms. Experiments have indicated a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.3% for replicate measurements and 1% for same volume aliquots injected into different sized chambers. The versatility of the method in regards to chamber shape and size, liquid colour and platform rotational frequency was demonstrated. This flexibility should allow it to be used for a variety of applications including real time metering of volumes in platforms, quantitative monitoring of a design's performance in real time and could result in the elimination of metering chambers for some applications.