近年來利用低溫共燒陶瓷技術(Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic, LTCC)在三維微流體元件之研究十分受到矚目。在本研究中，應用此LTCC技術分別研製無閥式微泵與完全整合的燃料電池重組器。除製程技術外，並藉由多種的數值分析軟體來模擬微流體元件的效能，且利用實驗來驗證。由實驗的結果來驗證利用數值分析於微流體元件優化與增加效能的優勢。對於無閥式微泵來說，使用此技術可以將微泵各種不同的部件，包含流道、振動板、腔體與平板型擴流器整合於單一的LTCC模組中。微泵的幾何乃藉由數值分析軟體的模擬進行設計，有限元素法則應用於壓電致動器的振動位移特性研究與設計；計算流體力學則應用於微擴流器的流場變化與幾何設計。將所設計的微泵進行實驗的比較與分析，可發現實驗與數值分析的吻合，並顯示微泵的效能可藉由增加一對靠近微擴流器頸部的套袋來提升。對於微型燃料重組器來說，利用此技術可完全整合微流道與觸媒鉑於LTCC重組器中，此乃由共燒的方式來整合而無需其他方法。另外不同厚度（10和40 nm）的觸媒鉑對重組器效能的影響也在此文中深入探討。本研究使用甲醇為碳氫化合物的來源，然後量測重組反應後所產生的碳氫燃料，其中包含氫氣、一氧化碳和甲烷。結果顯示當重組器的觸媒鉑厚度為10 nm，流率為1 ml/h，溫度為300 °C時，能產生最多的氫氣。整體而言，藉由實驗結果的驗證可知所使用的數值分析(有限元素法與計算流體力學)於本研究中顯示出高度吻合的預測性，更證明了製作元件之前，使用此數值分析來設計與預測元件的特性是可行的。再者，LTCC技術是個極為簡單且可靠的微製程，用以研製的微流體元件具耐高溫、抗腐蝕、具密封性、整合性大與高度可靠度等優點。

Applying low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) tape technology on constructing 3-D microfluidic devices has drawn increasing attention in recent years. In the current research, a valveless micropump and a fully integrated micro-scale fuel reformer over Pt catalyst were fabricated and developed using LTCC tape technology. In addition to the detailed fabrication process, the performance of these two microfluidic devices was simulated in multiple programs and then carefully examined in experiments. These microfluidic devices were further optimized and the improved performance was demonstrated in experiments. In the valveless micropump, individual components of micropump including fluidic channels, diaphragm, chamber and planar diffuser valves were integrated in one LTCC module. Geometries of these components were designed based on numerical analysis that finite element analysis was used to characterize the displacement of a piezoelectric actuator whereas computational fluid dynamics was applied to design the planar diffuser. Performance of the designed micropump was carefully examined in experiments and the experimental data echoed the numerical analysis and revealed that the performance of a micropump was significantly improved by adding a pair of pockets near the neck of diffuser. In the micro-reformer, the microfluidic channels and Pt catalyst was integrated with a LTCC reformer by direct co-firing with no additional process. Current study compared the effect of different thicknesses of Pt catalyst (10 and 40 nm) in LTCC reformers. As a source of hydrocarbon, methanol was used and the production of hydrocarbon fuels including hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane was measured by gas chromatography. Among different parameters tested, our results revealed that LTCC reformer coated with 10-nm Pt catalyst generated most hydrocarbon fuels at a flow rate of 1 ml/h and at temperature of 300 °C. Overall, the simulated results by finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics, used in the current study showed good predictability as demonstrated in experimental results, which suggest that these simulations are feasible in designing and characterizing microfluidic devices prior to manufacturing processes. Moreover, LTCC tape technology is a simple and reliable method to fabricate microfluidic devices with heat-resistance, corrosion-resistance, air-tightness, full integration and high reliability.

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