Modeling and development of a magnetically actuated system for micro-particle manipulation

Abstract

This paper presents the modeling and development of a micromanipulation system that can provide continuous force to manipulate a micro-particle through an externally applied magnetic field. This system consists of six electromagnetic coils and the size of the micro-particle to be manipulated is less than 30μm. The magnetic field maps generated from the electromagnets are first simulated using a finite element method. Based on the result, we then calculate the force that can be provided by the system. A prototype of the system is designed and constructed, which is used to precisely control the navigation of a super-paramagnetic micro-bead in a microfluidic environment. This system can be used for drug delivery as well as medical applications such as minimally invasive surgery, diagnosis and sensing.