A multi-port liquid bridge (1) adds aqueous phase droplets (10) in an
enveloping oil phase carrier liquid (11) to a draft channel (4, 6). A
chamber (3) links four ports, and it is permanently full of oil (11) when
in use. Oil phase is fed in a draft flow from an inlet port (4) and exits
through a draft exit port (6) and a compensating flow port (7). The oil
carrier and the sample droplets (3) ("aqueous phase") flow through the
inlet port (5) with an equivalent fluid flow subtracted through the
compensating port (7). The ports of the bridge (1) are formed by the ends
of capillaries held in position in plastics housings. The phases are
density matched to create an environment where gravitational forces are
negligible. This results in droplets (10) adopting spherical forms when
suspended from capillary tube tips. Furthermore, the equality of mass
flow is equal to the equality of volume flow. The phase of the inlet flow
(from the droplet inlet port (5) and the draft inlet port (4) is used to
determine the outlet port (6) flow phase.