Todd Sulchek, PhD

Georgia Institute of Technology, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis Committee:

Dr. Craig R. Forest, PhD
Georgia Institute of Technology, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Wilbur A. Lam, M.D. Ph.D
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Whitaker Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Manu Platt, Ph.D.

Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Whitaker Biomedical Engineering

Dr. A. Fatih Sarioglu, Ph.D.

Georgia Institute of Technology, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Pulse Width Modulated Periodic Backflush to Improve Dead-End Filtration for Label-Free, Size-Based Sorting

Although label-free dead-end filtration cell sorting offers many advantages over other labelled and label-free approaches, it still falls short when comparing recovery percentage in most cases. Regardless, dead-end filters are used ubiquitously in clinical setting for diagnostic and therapeutic applications ranging from tissue engineering to infectious agent identification and stratification. Flow control has been shown to improve filter flux capacity over time, but no comprehensive breakdown of its waveform analysis has been performed and applied across the board. The central hypothesis of the proposed research is that pulse width modulation of fluid velocity can be used to periodically backflush dead-end membranes to interrupt cake formation, reintegrate fouling layers into the bulk of a sample, and improve permeate flux and recovery percentage. This will inform the design of fluid control dynamics for diagnostic as well as therapeutic application in Cystic Fibrosis, blood fractionation, and scaffold seeding. The effects of varying duty cycle to improve targeted permeate recovery percentage or retentate purity will be assessed through these applications.