In the nanoliter range

In the nanoliter range, the use of syringe, peristaltic or piston pumps, leads to hysteresis, long equilibration times, irreproducibility and pulsing. Existing fluid handling devices are thus often inadequately adapted to the manipulation of small fluid volumes.
Pressure or volume flow control?Syringe or peristaltic pumps may seem suitable for applications requiring knowledge of the transported fluid volumes. However, due to hysteresis and connections compliance, actual instantaneous flows in microchannels often have little to do with the pump's setting.In many cases, calculating flows in a Microfluidic network under high resolution pressure control is easier and more accurate than using volume-based pumps.
To address this problem, FLUIGENT developed the MFCS microfluidics flow control systems, based on the proprietary FASTAB™ technology.
The MFCS resulting from Fastab technology is not a simple pressure controller. It is an easy and fast means to handle fluids, whilst still allowing the measurement of the flow with a flow meter.
From nl/mn to several µl/mn, the repeatability and the fast response time of the MFCS are inherent aspects of Fastab technology. A pressure dividing bridge now allows dynamic pressure management in real time. For the first time, the equivalent of a Wheatstone bridge is applied to the microfluidics reality. With 4 or 8 independent channels and a 40 ms response time, MFCS allows the design, optimization and full automation in a few clicks, of virtually any spatial and temporal flow circulation patterns in complex microchannels architectures.