Simulation and optimization of a sheathless size-based acoustic particle separator

Standing surface acoustic waves (SSAW) have been widely used for sorting of particles and cells. However, the challenge with the acoustic driven separation process is the need for an optimized setup to achieve effective separation and the range of particles that can be separated. In this study, we present out findings on a custom simulation model to investigate and optimize the separation of varying size particles in a sheathless acoustic separation platform that was developed in our research lab. Specifically, we investigate the effect of flowrate, pressure amplitude, wavelength and interdigitated transducers physical parameters on the separation efficiency. We also explored the critical particle size for acoustic particle separation with 3 µm particles and demonstrated, successful 3 µm and 6 µm particles for the first time for this sheathless separation platform. The ANSYS^® FLUENT was used to numerically simulate acoustic radiation force on the particles for separation. With the increase in the pressure amplitude in the first and second stage to 80 kPa and 110 kPa respectively, the optimization studies presented have shown to improve the separation efficiency of the model over 96% for both 10 and 3 µm particles. Findings of the present study will aid in increasing the efficiency of particle separation and in designing the SSAW driven microfluidic devices.