Welcome to the IKCEST

Microfluidics and Nanofluidics | Vol.22, Issue.7 | | Pages

Microfluidics and Nanofluidics

Using design strategies from microfluidic device patents to support idea generation

Shanna R. Daly   Colleen M. Seifert   Aileen Y. Huang-Saad   Jacob Lutz   Jin Woo Lee  
Abstract

Microfluidics has been an important method in providing answers to a wide variety of research questions in chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. Microfluidic designers benefit from instructional textbooks describing foundational principles and practices in developing microfluidic devices; however, these texts do not offer guidance about how to generate design concepts for microfluidic devices. Research on design in related fields, such as mechanical engineering, documents the difficulties engineers face when attempting to generate novel ideas. For microfluidic device designers, support during idea generation may lead to greater exploration of potential innovations in design. To investigate successful idea generation in microfluidics, we analyzed successful microfluidic US patents, selecting those with the key word “microfluidic” over a 2-year period. After analyzing the features and functions of 235 patents, we identified 36 distinct design strategies in microfluidic devices. We document each strategy, and demonstrate their usefulness in a concept generation study of practitioners in microfluidic design. While some of the identified design strategies may be familiar to microfluidic designers, exposure to this large set of strategies helped participants generate more diverse, creative, and unique microfluidic design concepts, which are considered best practices in idea generation.

Original Text (This is the original text for your reference.)

Using design strategies from microfluidic device patents to support idea generation

Microfluidics has been an important method in providing answers to a wide variety of research questions in chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. Microfluidic designers benefit from instructional textbooks describing foundational principles and practices in developing microfluidic devices; however, these texts do not offer guidance about how to generate design concepts for microfluidic devices. Research on design in related fields, such as mechanical engineering, documents the difficulties engineers face when attempting to generate novel ideas. For microfluidic device designers, support during idea generation may lead to greater exploration of potential innovations in design. To investigate successful idea generation in microfluidics, we analyzed successful microfluidic US patents, selecting those with the key word “microfluidic” over a 2-year period. After analyzing the features and functions of 235 patents, we identified 36 distinct design strategies in microfluidic devices. We document each strategy, and demonstrate their usefulness in a concept generation study of practitioners in microfluidic design. While some of the identified design strategies may be familiar to microfluidic designers, exposure to this large set of strategies helped participants generate more diverse, creative, and unique microfluidic design concepts, which are considered best practices in idea generation.

+More

Cite this article
APA

APA

MLA

Chicago

Shanna R. Daly,Colleen M. Seifert,Aileen Y. Huang-Saad,Jacob Lutz,Jin Woo Lee,.Using design strategies from microfluidic device patents to support idea generation. 22 (7),.

Disclaimer: The translated content is provided by third-party translation service providers, and IKCEST shall not assume any responsibility for the accuracy and legality of the content.
Translate engine
Article's language
English
中文
Pусск
Français
Español
العربية
Português
Kikongo
Dutch
kiswahili
هَوُسَ
IsiZulu
Action
Recommended articles

Report

Select your report category*



Reason*



By pressing send, your feedback will be used to improve IKCEST. Your privacy will be protected.

Submit
Cancel