Abstract
A new concept of a dual-chamber serial-parallel piezoelectric pump with an integrated sensor (DSPPIS) is presented in this paper. By means of dividing a piezoelectric bimorph into an actuator and a sensor, sensing function is integrated onto the DSPPIS for flow rate measurement. A prototype of the DSPPIS was manufactured and assembled from a finished piezoelectric bimorph. Then, frequency and voltage characteristics were tested to evaluate the performance of the DSPPIS with serial and parallel connection. Experimental results show that the optimal frequency range of DSPPIS can be achieved and determined by itself through monitoring the sensing voltage when driven by a fixed voltage of 150 Vpp and a frequency range of 40–400 Hz. For a fixed frequency of 100 Hz and a voltage range of 50–250 Vpp, both the sensing voltage and output flow rate increase with the increase of driving voltage. It is observed that there is a positive correlation between sensing voltage and output flow rate, which was further fitted by using linear function. The correlation coefficients for the DSPPIS with serial and parallel connection are calculated as 0.9716 and 0.9054, respectively. As a result, the DSPPIS demonstrated in this paper has realized the measurement of flow rate without the additional flow-sensing equipment both in serial and parallel connection.
Highlights
Owing to the advantages of simple structure, small size, low power consumption and no electromagnetic noise, the piezoelectric pump has emerged as a critical research area for medicine, precision machinery, and biochemistry [1,2,3,4]
We propose a dual-chamber serial-parallel piezoelectric pump (DSPP), which realizes the switching of series and parallel connection of dual-chamber single-actuator piezoelectric pumps by controlling the fluid passage, thereby obtaining the comprehensive advantages of serial and parallel connection and meeting the requirements of different applications
When the driving frequency was 40–180 Hz, the output flow rate and sensing voltage increased with the increase of driving frequency
Summary
Owing to the advantages of simple structure, small size, low power consumption and no electromagnetic noise, the piezoelectric pump has emerged as a critical research area for medicine, precision machinery, and biochemistry [1,2,3,4]. Li et al presented a valveless dual-chamber single–actuator piezoelectric pump, which achieved 1.3 times as much output flow rate compared with the pump with single chamber [8]. We propose a dual-chamber serial-parallel piezoelectric pump (DSPP), which realizes the switching of series and parallel connection of dual-chamber single-actuator piezoelectric pumps by controlling the fluid passage, thereby obtaining the comprehensive advantages of serial and parallel connection and meeting the requirements of different applications. A dual-chamber serial-parallel piezoelectric pump with an integrated sensor (DSPPIS) for flow rate measurement is developed in this paper to achieve output performance self-monitoring of a dual-chamber in serial and parallel connection, which will greatly improve the environmental adaptability and performance reliability of DSPP. Experimental analysis on the frequency and voltage characterization of DSPPIS under serial and parallel connection are explored
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