# Taiwanese researchers prototype electricity-free blood typing device tested on 21 samples

- Published: 2026-11-10 08:48 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Medicine
- Tags: blood typing chip, microfluidic centrifuge, hematocrit measurement, hand-powered diagnostics, Biosensors and Bioelectronics
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-3b26a2985161e059bd636f6b_taiwanese_researchers_prototype/

**A hand-powered microfluidic centrifuge analyzes blood type and hematocrit in one minute from 3 μL of whole blood.**

![Taiwanese researchers prototype electricity-free blood typing device tested on 21 samples](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/a94a316d65d921ba.webp)
*science-et-vie.com*

Engineers from National Taiwan University have presented a diagnostic platform that combines a microfluidic chip with a hand-powered centrifuge, dubbed hpFuge, to determine blood group and hematocrit without electricity, according to a study published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics [1]. The test requires 3 μL of whole blood and completes the entire diagnostic cycle in 60 seconds [1].

## Hydrodynamics and mechanical filtration

The portable diagnostic setup relies on mechanical rotation instead of an electric drive, driving blood samples through curved microchannels [1]. Optimization of channel length, depth, and curvature radius provides uniform mixing efficiency and flow stability [1]. The design routes fluid toward narrow outlets featuring micro-slits approximately 7.5 μm wide [1]. When target red blood cells encounter matching antibodies, agglutination occurs, forming aggregates that cannot pass through the micro-slit barrier [1]. The channel containing blocked cell clumps reveals the ABO and Rh blood type [1].

## Hematocrit estimation and accuracy validation

Beyond basic identification, the physical length of the trapped agglutinated red blood cell band serves as a direct metric for hematocrit estimation [1]. The researchers established that band length correlates linearly with hematocrit levels across a range of 10% to 60%, achieving a correlation coefficient of R² = 0.99 [1]. 

Validation on 21 clinical blood samples demonstrated high agreement with hospital automated analyzers, yielding a mean bias of 0.126% and 95% limits of agreement between -0.63% and 0.88% [1]. The instrument-free platform requires no external calibration, displays visual readouts without digital processing units, and functions independently of electrical grids [1].

## Sources

1. [Biosensors and Bioelectronics](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2026.119215)
2. [science-et-vie.com](https://www.science-et-vie.com/corps-et-sante/cet-appareil-teste-sur-21-echantillons-identifie-le-groupe-sanguin-et-mesure-les-globules-rouges-a-partir-dune-simple-goutte-de-sang-265795.html)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-3b26a2985161e059bd636f6b_taiwanese_researchers_prototype/