Microfluidics

Higher Speed and Throughput for Microscale Fluid Handling

With its precise analyses, diagnoses, and therapeutic treatments, microfluidics brings benefits to fields such as chemistry, biotechnology, or medical technology. The integration of piezoceramic components revolutionizes the handling of liquid volumes down to the picolitre range. Due to their compact dimensions and high speed, as well as their low energy requirements and optional battery operation, piezo elements are suitable for applications in the smallest of installation spaces, such as in-vitro diagnostics in point-of-care (POC) devices, various forms of drug delivery and single-cell sorting.

With the help of the piezoelectric effect, piezoceramic generates electrical charges under mechanical load and deforms under the influence of electricity.
Piezoceramic can therefore exert precise mechanical forces and achieve controlled deformations – thus generating ultrasonic waves, amongst other things. Piezo elements are capable, for example, of triggering fluid movements in microchannels or of dispensing the smallest of volumes. As a result, they enable tasks such as mixing, printing, sorting, and dosing in microfluidic systems. Piezoceramics provide high sensitivity and precise control capability, with fast response times, enabling a granularity that facilitates smaller sample volumes, improved analytical accuracy, and the option of real-time monitoring.

PI Ceramic is your partner in piezo technology for microfluidics applications involving:

Cell or particle sorting
3D printing
Microarray spotting
Sample preparation in IVD devices e.g., cell lysis
Mesh nebulizers
Mircopumps
Enabling Seamless Sample Preparation
PI Ceramic Ultrasound Assisted Cell Lysis for IVD
Ultrasonic transducers for liquid handling tasks such as sample preparation generate powerful vibrations in the range of several 10 kHz. With a comparatively low energy consumption, they are particularly suitable for use in medical devices or mobile point-of-care solutions.
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Efficiently Generating Aerosols in Mesh Nebulizers
Chronic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, or the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but also bronchitis and the flu necessitate a comprehensive medical treatment. Medical nebulizers atomize medication so very finely that it can be inhaled very deeply into the lungs, therefore, making the therapy of sometimes life-threatening lung diseases possible.
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Faster Analyses for In Vitro Diagnostics
Physik Instrumente - Solutions to Microfluidic Challenge
The requirements of fluid handling in medical processes such as in vitro diagnostics are extremely demanding: Very small volumes of liquids with different characteristics need dosing or have to be moved with high precision.
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Pumping Tiniest Fluid Volumes Precisely
Pumping Tiniest Fluid Volumes Quickly and Precisely
The fields of application for piezoelectric micropumps are in laboratory technology, medical technology, biotechnology, chemical analytics, and process technology, which require reliable metering of minute amounts of liquids and gases.
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Printing Customized Medical Implants and Tissue
Printing Customized Medical Implants and Tissue
3D printing enables therapies that were unimaginable just few decades ago. With the development of medical technology, however, the demands on medical devices and implants are also becoming higher. The geometries and structures are becoming more complex and faster and precise manufacturing is required. Some 3D printing processes can benefit from piezo technology.
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Why Partner Up with PI Ceramic for Microfluidic Solutions?

PI Ceramic develops and manufactures customized piezoceramic materials and piezo elements for microfluidic applications in a wide variety of geometries, dimensions, designs, or higher refinements. Convince yourself of our comprehensive expertise in piezo technology, from research and development to production and further processing.

Customized products made of piezo materials developed in-house: We take care of all steps necessary for your application at our facilities, including manufacturing and assembling the piezo elements and ultrasonic transducers. With the entire value chain in our hand, PI Ceramic can guarantee consistent high quality across all process steps – and global supply fluctuations do not impact your order.

During the product development stage, PI supports you in finding the optimum design and the ideal specifications of piezo elements. Beyond that, we manufacture piezo components, subassemblies, and ultrasonic transducers. We keep the big picture in mind during all processes to ensure you get the ideal component for your application.

More than just piezo components or actuators: We offer value-added designs for our piezo elements. Whether you need soldering of stranded wires and flexible PCBs, gluing onto substrates, or the assembly of ultrasonic transducers with acoustic matching layers and housing: We deliver a ready-to-install, quality-tested product.

Special applications require special piezo elements. You are planning with the smallest installation spaces? PI Ceramic has the technical expertise to produce tiny piezo components for this purpose. Whether it is tubes with 0.4 mm diameter or 2 mm small spheres: We support you in miniaturizing your solution.

From one to millions: As we carry out all manufacturing steps in-house, we can ensure consistent quality and rapid turnaround times, regardless of the order size. Try us!

Whatever your application environment, our piezo components are manufactured and assembled under cleanroom conditions so we can meet the necessary quality standards for your products.

Do you want to know more about our solutions? Our specialists are happy to help.

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