Using Dean Flow in a spiral-shaped microfluidic circuit for particle sorting

Microfluidics is the use of small nanoliter channels in order to run experiments quickly and affordably, as compared to other methods. The goal is sorting particles by size using Dean flow in a spiral-shaped microfluidic device. Dean flow is an inertial effect brought about by fluid flow in curved channels, focusing particles into streams by size. Dean flow is achieved by keeping the Reynolds number of the flow low. The most efficient device for a given set of particle sizes is maximized by adjusting the dimensions of a given microfluidic circuit, such as width of channels and curvature of the spiral.