Abstract
Market and technology analysis of pumps, valves, sensors and controllers for Microfluidics Applications
MAIN CHALLENGES
Beyond ink-jet printers and lab-ona-chip assays, recent advances and
innovations contribute to the recognition of Microfluidics as a key enabling
technology of the future.
Precise manipulation of microliters down to picoliters of fluid see potential
applications in the Medical, In- Vitro Diagnostic, Chemistry, Energy and
industrial fields.
Up to now, microfluidic products on the market employed passive fluid control
techniques such as the use of capillary forces. The trend towards
miniaturization and the flexible use of systems such as portable medical
devices, micro fuel cells, and even micro chemical reactors imposes strong
requirements in terms of size, weight, accuracy and automation.
Function integration is thus a key requirement, which leads to a growing
demand for micro flow management components such as pumps, valves and sensors.
As medical, diagnostic and consumer handheld applications (micro-fuel cell)
expect low cost disposable solutions, the challenge is to integrate sensors
and valves at the chip manufacturing level. This implies some partnership
between technology providers and microfluidic foundries.
MARKET
The total market of flow management components is expected to reach 4.2 b$ in
2014, the largest volume being attributed to micro-pressure sensors. Although
MEMS devices represent today a small fraction of this market, this fraction
will significantly increase in the next 5 years, the largest application being
disposable pressure sensors for blood monitoring.
Detailed analysis of the market and technologies for pumps, valves, sensors
and controllers show that although microfluidic devices are entering the
marketplace, no industry standard exists yet, even for the simplest components.
COMPANIES CITED IN THE REPORT
Alzet, Arbiotec, Azbil, Bartels mikrotechnik, Biochem Fluidics, Bronkhorst
High Tech, Brooks Instruments, Burkert, Cetoni, Debotech, Dolomite, Durect,
Eksigent, Fluigent, GE sensing, HNP, HP, Idex, IQ Micro, Kloehn, Micronics,
NFT, Omega, OMRON, Porter, Sensirion, Takasago, The Lee company, ThinXXs,
Tronics, Valcor...
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