The Study of Microfilter Performance in Different Environments Using DSMC

Microfilters are commonly used to block undesirable particles in the fluid flows and to control the flow patterns in MEMS. The main purpose of this study is to understand the effect of gas type on density, pressure, Mach number, and velocity distributions of fluid flows through a microfilter. The Knudsen number is the slip flow regime passing through the microfilter. We use direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method to simulate the flow of nitrogen, helium, oxygen, air and methane passing through a specific microfilter. The geometry of microfilter is unique in all cases. Our results confirm that every gas performs a different performance passing through a specific microfilter, and that the efficiency of a microfilter varies in different gas type environments. For example, among different gases, nitrogen and air have the lowest the pressure drops and that helium has the maximum pressure loss passing through a microfilter.