An Electrostatically Driven Double-Sided One-Chamber Peristaltic Pump with Four Electrodes

Abstract

A double-sided peristaltic micropump driven by electrostatic actuation has been developed for pumping gases through microsystems, such as a micro-gas chromatography system. The pump was operated from 60 to 160 V. The maximum flow rate of 389 µl/min was achieved at 100 V and 4 Hz with an estimated power consumption of 26 µW/sccm. In order to increase the flow rate, a double-sided chamber design was used. The micropump had two single-sided silicon chambers and a membrane in the middle of the pump chamber. The peristaltic micropump has one long chamber and a metalized membrane which can divide the chamber into four small chambers during operation. The micropump was operated with four electrodes in the membrane and a four-phase sequencing actuation.