https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9257-4818
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ABSTRACT
The piezoelectric micropump can be a prominent component of drug delivery systems due to its high performance, low cost, and faster response. However, backpressure remains to be the most common problem in micropump technology. Thus, microvalves or the passive check valve based piezoelectric micropump can be used to prevent the backpressure. However, the complex structure of the passive check valve based micropump limits the investigations of Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) due to the intricate Multiphysics involved. This paper presents the investigations on the flow behaviour and performance of a passive check valve based piezoelectric micropump using numerical analysis. The simulation study comprising FSI depicts the performance of a piezoelectric micropump using a fluid-structure coupling, fluid selection, structural modelling, and piezoelectric equations. The simulation results illustrate the micropump performance characteristics such as piezoelectric actuator displacement, micropump flow rate, backpressure, and Von Mises stress. Experiments are conducted to validate simulation results by studying the effect of voltage and frequency on the micropump flow and pressure characteristics. The experimental study demonstrated that the passive check valve based piezoelectric micropump delivers a maximum flow rate of 32 ml/min at zero backpressure. The micropump can pump the fluid against maximum backpressure up to 35 kPa.
Abbreviations
| MEMS | = | Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems |
| µTAS | = | Micro Total Analysis Systems |
| POCT | = | Point of Care Testing |
| LOC | = | Lab On a Chip |
| FSI | = | Fluid-Structure Interaction |
| FE | = | Finite Element |
| DI water | = | De-Ionised water |
| ALE | = | Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian |
| PZT | = | Lead Zirconate Titanate |
| COC | = | Cyclic Olefin Copolymer |
| PB | = | Phosphor bronze |
| EPDM | = | Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer |
| LabVIEW | = | Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench |
| PTFE | = | Polytetrafluoroethylene |
Notations
| ρ | = | Fluid density |
| FV | = | Body force of the structure |
| S | = | Piola-Kirchoff stress |
| F | = | Deformation gradient |
| I | = | Identity matrix |
| ɛ | = | Lagrangian strain tensor |
| ∇ usolid | = | Deformation of the structure |
| T | = | Transpose of the ∇ u solid |
| u | = | Fluid velocity |
| p | = | Fluid pressure |
| μ | = | Fluid dynamic viscosity |
| ∇ D | = | Divergence of the electric displacement field |
| ρv | = | Volume charge density |
| E | = | Static electric field |
| V | = | Electric potential |
| t | = | Time in seconds |
| f | = | Frequency in Hertz |
| Ep | = | Young’s modulus of Piezoelectric Actuator |
| νp | = | Poisson’s ratio of Piezoelectric Actuator |
| ρp | = | Density of Piezoelectric Actuator |
| Ed | = | Young’s modulus of Diaphragm |
| νd | = | Poisson’s ratio of Diaphragm |
| ρd | = | Density of Diaphragm |
| νm | = | Poisson’s ratio of Metal plate |
| ρm | = | Density of Metal plate |
| ρw | = | Density of water |
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.