Abstract
The general design rules indicate that when identical macroscale pumps (each with a maximum flowrate Qm, and maximum pressure drop ΔPmax) are combined in series, the maximum flowrate is Qm, but the maximum pressure drop becomes 2ΔPmax, while combined in parallel the maximum flowrate becomes 2Qm, and the maximum pressure is ΔPmax. In this paper, we test whether these design rules apply to microscale valveless micropumps using highly resolved CFD calculations. The variation of flow with pump pressure drop is studied by varying the resistance of an external circuit. The analysis confirmed that the macroscale design rules for macroscale pumps are applicable to microscale pumps. The study also enabled the influence of different forcing strategies on the pump performance to be analyzed.
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