Type Of Micropump Research Articles

A new type of micropump driven by a low electric voltage

In this paper, we propose a new prototype model of a micro pump using ICPF (Ionic Conducting Polymer Film) actuator as the servo actuator. This micro pump consists of two active oneway valves that make use of the same ICPF actuator. The overall size of this micro pump prototype is 12mm in diameter and 20 mm in length. The actuating mechanism is as follows: (1) The ICPF actuator as the diaphragm is bent into anode side by application of electricity. Then the volume of the pump chamber increases, resulting in the inflow of liquid from the inlet to the chamber. (2) By changing the current direction, the volume of the pump chamber decreases, resulting in the liquid flow from the chamber to the outlet. (3) The ICPF actuator is put on a sine voltage, the micro pump provides liquid flow from the inlet to the outlet continuously. Characteristic of the micro pump is measured. The experimental results indicate that the micro pump has the satisfactory responses.

A phase-change type micropump with aluminum flap valves

In this paper, a phase-change type micropump is presented. This micropump consists of a pair of aluminum flap valves and a phase-change type actuator. The actuator is composed of a heater, a silicone rubber diaphragm and a working fluid chamber. The diaphragm is actuated by the vaporization and the condensation of the working fluid. The micropump is fabricated by the anisotropic etching, the boron diffusion and the metal evaporation. The dimension of the micropump is 8.5 mm × 5 mm × 1.7 mm. The forward and the backward flow characteristics of the flap valve illustrate the appropriateness as a check valve. The flow rate of the micropump is measured for various voltages, frequencies and duty cycles of the square-wave input. When the square-wave input voltage of 10 V is applied to the heater, the maximum flow rate of the micropump is 6.1 μl min−1 at 0.5 Hz and the duty ratio of 60% for zero pressure difference. The maximum backward pressure when the flow rate is zero is 10 mm H2O.

Preparation of Diffuser Type Micropump Using Screen-Printed PZT-PCW Thick Films

This paper describes the preparation and experimental results of the piezoelectric actuating diaphragm and the diffuser type micropump using screen printing thick-film technologies and Si micro-machining. The micropump has a pumping chamber with an oscillating diaphragm which compresses the pumping chamber. Inlet and outlet planar diffusers direct the liquid flow. The micropump is a stack of two layers bonded together: one silicon piece with Si diaphragm actuator using PZT-PCW thick films, other piece having pumping chamber, planar diffuser and fluidic access holes. Si diaphragm of about 15-25 w m thickness are prepared on Si(100) wafers by TMAH wet etching. The PZT-PCW thick films are prepared by hybrid method of screen printing modified with PZT sol-gel application. The results from this study show that it is good to perform combination of screen printed PZT thick-film onto micromachined Si structure.

Preparation of Diffuser Type Micropump Using Screen-Printed PZT-PCW Thick Films

This paper describes the preparation and experimental results of the piezoelectric actuating diaphragm and the diffuser type micropump using screen printing thick-film technologies and Si micro-machining. The micropump has a pumping chamber with an oscillating diaphragm which compresses the pumping chamber. Inlet and outlet planar diffusers direct the liquid flow. The micropump is a stack of two layers bonded together: one silicon piece with Si diaphragm actuator using PZT-PCW thick films, other piece having pumping chamber, planar diffuser and fluidic access holes. Si diaphragm of about 15-25 w m thickness are prepared on Si(100) wafers by TMAH wet etching. The PZT-PCW thick films are prepared by hybrid method of screen printing modified with PZT sol-gel application. The results from this study show that it is good to perform combination of screen printed PZT thick-film onto micromachined Si structure.

Experimental investigation on phase transformation type mi-cropump

The phase transformation type micropump without moving parts was experimentally studied in this note. To analyze the pumping mechanism of the micropump, a simplified physical model was presented. The experimental results indicate that the pump characteristic is mainly dependent on the heating and cooling conditions. For a given system, there exist an optimal combination of heating current and switch time with which the flow rate reaches maximum. Comparing with the natural cooling, the forced convective cooling needs larger heating current to obtain the same flow rate. In our experiments, the maximum flow rate is 33 μL/min when the inner diameter of the micropump is 200 μm, and the maximum pumping pressure reaches over 20 kPa. The theoretical analysis shows that the pumping mechanism of the micropump mainly lies in the large density difference between liquid and gas phases and the effect of gas chocking.

Fabrication and testing of a small pump composed of a magnet and an elastic plate

A new type of micro-pump using an angular movement of an elastic plate is proposed. The moving part of the pump consists of a small permanent magnet attached to an elastic plate. If an alternating magnetic field is applied, the magnet vibrates angularly due to magnetic torque and then the polyimide film causes a unidirectional movement of fluid. A cm-size pump based on this mechanism has been constructed and tested. The maximum flow rate of 750 ml/min and the maximum pressure of approximately 4.2 kPa were achieved when ethyl alcohol was used as a working fluid.