Study of Piezoelectrically Actuated Micropumps with Multiple Parallel Chambers

Abstract

This study investigated the performance of the piezoelectrically actuated parallel micropumps. The displacement of the piezoelectric (PZT) actuator and the flow rate of the micropump were studied in terms of operating parameters. Using a nonlinear regression technique, empirical models of the micropumps were established based on the experimental data. The experimental results indicated that the displacement of the piezoelectric actuator increased with actuating voltage but decreased with frequency. The flow rate of the micropump was proportional to the applied voltage and demonstrated that the maximum flow rate occurred at an adequate frequency. When operated at a voltage of 140 V and a frequency of 20 Hz, the single micropump delivered a maximum flow rate of 91 µ 1/min. At the same input signal, the maximum flow rate of the double parallel micropump was 1.5 times that of the single micropump, and approximately twice that of the single micropump for triple parallel operation. Furthermore, the obtained non-linear regression formulae can be utilized to predict the flow rate of the micropump with multiparallel chambers.