Multi-Field Analysis and Experimental Verification on Piezoelectric Valve-Less Pumps Actuated by Centrifugal Force

Abstract

A piezoelectric centrifugal pump was developed previously to overcome the low frequency responses of piezoelectric pumps with check valves and liquid reflux of conventional valveless piezoelectric pumps. However, the electro-mechanical-fluidic analysis on this pump has not been done. Therefore, multi-field analysis and experimental verification on piezoelectrically actuated centrifugal valveless pumps are conducted for liquid transport applications. The valveless pump consists of two piezoelectric sheets and a metal tube with piezoelectric elements pushing the metal tube to swing at the first bending resonant frequency. The centrifugal force generated by the swinging motion will force the liquid out of the metal tube. The governing equations for the solid and fluid domains are established, and the coupling relations of the mechanical, electrical and fluid fields are described. The bending resonant frequency and bending mode in solid domain are discussed, and the liquid flow rate, velocity profile, and gauge pressure are investigated in fluid domain. The working frequency and flow rate concerning different components sizes are analyzed and verified through experiments to guide the pump design. A fabricated prototype with an outer diameter of 2.2 mm and a length of 80 mm produced the largest flow rate of 13.8 mL/min at backpressure of 0.8 kPa with driving voltage of 80 Vpp. By solving the electro-mechanical-fluidic coupling problem, the model developed can provide theoretical guidance on the optimization of centrifugal valveless pump characters.