A novel micropump design: Investigation of the voltage effect on the net flow rate

Abstract

A low cost piezoelectric micropump was designed and fabricated to supply fluid flow rate in micro-sizes and for use in medical purposes. It was designed as disposable in order to prevent contamination and infection. The micropump was fabricated with the Objet260 Connex3 multi-material 3D printer, which was very precise and sensitive. The piezoelectric was selected as an actuator to drive the diaphragm of this micropump. The piezoelectric diameter was 14mm, the thickness was 200 µm and the operating voltages were between 5V-55V. According to the experiments results, the air in the chamber caused reduction of the net flow rate of the micropump. Therefore, we eliminated the air inside the chamber with ethanol before the experiments. In the proposed micropump, we obtained the highest net flow rate and the maximum displacement of diaphragm at 55V that were 40.3ml/min and 2.64µm respectively.