1. A Valveless Micro-Pump Driven by a Piezoelectric Device
- Subjects
MEMS ,Micro-Fluidics ,Piezoelectric Actuator ,Pump ,Valveless Micro-Pump - Abstract
A new valveless micro-pump was developed in this study.The pump was composed of a variable volume pump chamber with a piezoelectric actuator and a fluid conveying pipe connected to the pump chamber with an angle through the pipe.A net pumping was realized in the asymmetric flow profiles in the asymmetric configurations of the pump chamber and fluid conveying pipe.The net pumping of fluid in valveless micro-pump was confirmed by numerical calculations using commercial CFD software StarCD.The actuator was driven by using a sinusoidal 250V AC signal at frequencies from 8 to 25Hz.The frequency response of the pump to the driving frequency showed that the most effective driving frequency is 17Hz.At the optimum frequency the maximum flow rate was 1.3ml/min at 0 Pa,whereas the total head rise through pump was 600Pa at zero flow rate for water.The flow rate as well as the total head decreased for ethanol compared with those for water.As a result of dimensional analysis,it was found that the developed pump characteristics were dependent on Raynolds number.
- Published
- 2003