Challenges in design process of gear micropump from plastics

Abstract

Plastics are more and more frequently applied in the construction of hydraulic components and systems, and recently, in the building of microhydraulic assemblies. The basic unit of the microhydraulic systems is a micropump. It is an object which is quite difficult to design and manufacture, especially when using plastics. The paper is a presentation of challenges that must be met in the process of designing gear pumps, and, at the same time, of the theoretical grounds for the designing of those objects. The challenges include the geometry and the gears, the construction of the pump body, the hydraulics of the pump, and the material—the plastic of which the pump is made. The knowledge on those issues was applied to make and to successfully test a prototype of a micropump.