A serial piezoelectric gas pump with variable chamber height

Abstract

A serial piezoelectric gas pump with variable chamber height (SPGPVCH) is developed. The proposed SPGPVCHs, composed of three serial chambers in variable height, three piezoelectric actuators with flexible supporting, and four wedge-shaped valves, have a greatly improvement in output flow rate and pressure compared with traditional piezoelectric air pump. Then, the theoretical model of SPGPVCHs is established to verify the feasibility and correctness of the proposed design. Subsequently, the prototypes of SPGPVCH are designed, manufactured and assembled. The frequency and voltage characteristics are tested when the chamber height range is 0.1∼0.5 mm, and the optimal combination of chamber height is found by the RCI method. According to experiments, the maximum flow rate and output pressure from the optimal combination (h1 = 0.5 mm, h2 = 0.3 mm, h3 = 0.1 mm) are 824.8 mL/min and 20.1 kPa, respectively. The SPGPVCHs demonstrate excellent performance both in flow rate and output pressure, and is useful for the development of an air generator.