Microflow control in microfluidic chip channels by regulated thermal fields

The paper presents a method for microflow control in microchannels of a chip for electrophoretic separation of the sample, based on controlled thermal fields. Contributions from various phenomena (thermal effect of electric fields, convection, heat conduction, etc.) to the substance heating in a channel are analyzed. Possible realizations of this method of control - from the simplest one, thermal stabilization, to introduction of a tracking system with the feedback by emergence detection of different components - are discussed. The proposed control method is compared with conventional ones such as channel geometry selection, using a microreactor with product detection, channel surface modification, etc.