US Patent Issued to Seagate Technology on June 30 for "Directional control on a microfluidic chip" (Minnesota Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,667,842, issued on June 30, was assigned to Seagate Technology LLC (Fremont, Calif.).

"Directional control on a microfluidic chip" was invented by Riyan Alex Mendonsa (Edina, Minn.), Gemma Mendonsa (Edina, Minn.) and Brett R. Herdendorf (Mound, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A microfluidic system includes a fluidic platform having a surface, a first liquid disposed onto the fluidic platform, and a droplet disposed onto the first liquid. The first liquid has a first temperature. The droplet has a second temperature higher than the first temperature so that the droplet is levitated above the first liquid by a cushion of vapor of the ...