Lehigh University

Ashish V Pattekar

Mayuresh V Kothare

A method of bonding a capillary tube made of a thermally deformable material to a passage in a glass wafer comprising the steps of treating the surface of the capillary tube to render the surface bondable and wettable by a conventional epoxy resin; inserting a support inside the capillary to prevent inward deformation of the capillary during subsequent fabricating steps; inserting the supported capillary inside the port on the wafer; heating an end of the capillary proximate a bottom portion of the port to effect melting of a portion of the heated end of the capillaries; moving the melted end of the capillary into contact with a wall of the port at a desired location for the capillary in the port, thus forming a temporary seal between the capillary and the wall of the port; and introducing an epoxy around the capillary to bind the capillary to the wafer.

Micro-fluidic interconnector

Microreactor for carrying out methanol reforming for hydrogen production. The microreactor consists of a network of catalyst-packed parallel microchannels of cross-sectional dimensions from 400 to 1000 micrometers with a catalyst particle filter near the outlet fabricated by micromachining techniques, e.g., using photolithography and deep-reactive ion etching (DRIE) on a silicon substrate. Microchannel and filter capping, on-chip heating and temperature sensing, introduction and trapping of catalyst particles in the microchannels, flow distribution, microfluidic interfacing and thermal insulation are features of the microreactor. Another microreactor consists of a radial-flow configuration utilizing a annular shaped catalyst zone for carrying out reactions between gases introduced into the microreactor as the gases flow from an inner circular boundary to an outer circular boundary in a radial direction. Methanol to hydrogen molar conversion of at least 85% to 90% at flow rates enough to supply hydrogen to an 8 to 10 Watt fuel cell have been achieved. Microreactors according to the invention can be achieved to produce hydrogen as required for up to a 25 Watt fuel cell. Several such microreactors can be used simultaneously to generate hydrogen for fuel cells with higher power capacities.

Growing community of inventors

Bethlehem, PA, United States of America

Ashish V Pattekar