Enhancing the flow efficiency of micropumping devices using a PDMS biomimetic diversion system

Abstract

In this paper, a biomimetic diversion structure was proposed based on the contraction and expansion behavior of the heart valve, which was placed in the micropump of the circular chamber. The micropump is composed of a PZT-4A actuator and a PDMS diversion structure, whose role is to behave as both a control flow rate and a flow field rectification. The weak form "fluid solid coupling" modeling method is used to simulate the flow field characteristics of the micropump, and then the geometric parameters of the PDMS diversion structure is redesigned to achieve the flow rate basic requirements (3.5 ml min⁻¹). The research results confirm that the proposed micropump has the best pump efficiency (3.34%) at a backpressure of 25 cmH₂O and a flow rate of 1.79 mL min⁻¹. In addition, the net flow rate was assessed over a range of operating frequencies (200–900 Hz, in 50 Hz increments). The maximum flow rate is approximately 3.53 ml min⁻¹ at a resonance frequency of 700 Hz. This indicates that the presented micropump has an advantage in drug delivery applications owing to its frequency regulation characteristics, and that the release rate of drug delivery can be easily controlled to maintain therapeutic efficacy.

Keywords:

• PZT-4A actuator
• weak fluid-structure coupling modeling method
• biomimetic diversion system
• pump efficiency