A Micropump Using Inertia of Pipeline : Investigations on Optimal Structure

Abstract

For fluid microactuators and microfactory, the authors have proposed a novel high output micropump using inertia effect of fluid which has a pipeline element in place of an outlet check valve and verified the effectiveness with a fabricated micropump. To increase the output power and to miniaturize the size, this paper investigates the optimal structure through simulations based on the proposed simple mathematical model with lumped parameters and experiments using fabricated micropumps with different sizes of the pipeline element. Also, the optimal diameter of the diapharm is investigated through simulations.