Improving the Performance of a Traveling Wave Micropump for Fluid Transport in Micro Total Analysis Systems

Abstract

Micropumps are one of the most important microfluidic components in Micro Total Analysis System (μTAS). The authors have developed a traveling wave micropump that demonstrates high energy efficiency and does not require valves. A prototype valveless micropump was fabricated using microfabrication techniques to validate the pumping principle. The micropump uses piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers to deform a flexible microchannel wall. Traveling waves are induced on the surface of the microchannel by applying properly phased sinusoidal voltage to the piezoelectric cantilevers. The resulting peristaltic motion of the channel wall transports the fluid. The fluid flow in the micropump was numerically simulated with the computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. Comparing the experimental and numerical results confirmed that the proposed modeling method can accurately evaluate the performances of the traveling wave micropump. Based on the flow obtained in numerical analysis, an improvement in the pump efficiency is expected with optimization of the shape of the moving wall.