Abstract
A unique micro flow meter for measuring small liquid flow rate is developed and presented in this paper. The measurement is based on counting of rotations of a micro impeller, 500μm in radius, installed in a micro PDMS channel in which the liquid to be measured flows. A stereolithography is used to fabricate the impeller and the casing. The characteristics and performance of the developed micro flow meter are examined. It is shown that there is a good linearity between the flow rate and the number of rotations counted in the range of 5000-25000μL/min. As expected, little additional pressure loss is generated by the installation of the present micro flow meter. Its dynamic response is evaluated to be about 0.2s, which is short enough to make measurement of unsteady flows.
