Analysis of the flow rate characteristics of valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes

Microchannel heat sink with high heat transfer coefficients has been extensively investigated due to its wide application prospective in electronic cooling. However, this cooling system requires a separate pump to drive the fluid transfer, which is uneasy to minimize and reduces their reliability and applicability of the whole system. In order to avoid these problems, valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes is proposed. Fractal-like Y-shape branching tube used in microchannel heat sinks is exploited as no-moving-part valve of the valveless piezoelectric pump. In order to obtain flow characteristics of the pump, the relationship between tube structure and flow rate of the pump is studied. Specifically, the flow resistances of fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes and flow rate of the pump are analyzed by using fractal theory. Then, finite element software is employed to simulate the flow field of the tube, and the relationships between pressure drop and flow rate along merging and dividing flows are obtained. Finally, valveless piezoelectric pumps with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes with different fractal dimensions of diameter distribution are fabricated, and flow rate experiment is conducted. The experimental results show that the flow rate of the pump increases with the rise of fractal dimension of the tube diameter. When fractal dimension is 3, the maximum flow rate of the valveless pump is 29.16 mL/min under 100 V peak to peak （13 Hz） power supply, which reveals the relationship between flow rate and fractal dimensions of tube diameter distribution. This paper investigates the flow characteristics of valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes, which provides certain references for valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes in application on electronic chip cooling.     

多级“Y”型流管无阀压电泵的原理与试验验证(实验视频)

针对目前微流体混合器多需要外接动力源,且多数微混合器只能进行液体混合而不能输送液体的问题,提出将无阀压电泵引入微混合器领域,并研制了一种集混合与输送于一体的多级“Y”型流管无阀压电泵。首先,提出了多级“Y”型流管,进而设计了多级“Y”型流管无阀压电泵,并分析其工作原理;然后,对该无阀压电泵的流管流阻特性及泵流量进行理论分析;同时,利用有限元软件对多级“Y”型流管无阀压电泵进行了流场模拟,结果表明该压电泵具有单向传输作用。最后,制作了多级“Y”型流管无阀压电泵样机,并进行了泵流量与背压试验。试验结果显示：驱动电压峰峰值为100 V,频率为16 Hz时,流量达到最大,为16.2 ml/min;驱动电压峰峰值为100 V,频率为14 Hz时,输出背压最大,约为64 mm水柱。得到的试验数据证明了多级“Y”型流管无阀压电泵的有效性。(实验视频)     

3D FEM analyses on flow field characteristics of the valveless piezoelectric pump

Due to the special transportation and heat transfer characteristics, the fractal-like Y-shape branching tube is used in valveless piezoelectric pumps as a no-moving-part valve. However, there have been little analyses on the flow resistance of the valveless piezoelectric pump, which is critical to the performance of the valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes. Flow field of the piezoelectric pump is analyzed by the finite element method, and the pattern of the velocity streamlines is revealed, which can well explain the difference of total flow resistances of the piezoelectric pump. Besides, simplified numerical method is employed to calculate the export flow rate of piezoelectric pump, and the flow field of the piezoelectric pump is presented. The FEM computation shows that the maximum flow rate is 16.4 mL/min. Compared with experimental result, the difference between them is just 55.5%, which verifies the FEM method. The reasons of the difference between dividing and merging flow resistance of the valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes are also investigated in this method. The proposed research provides the instruction to design of novel piezoelectric pump and a rapid method to analyse the pump flow rate.     

3D打印的锥管坡面腔底无阀压电泵

为提高无阀压电泵的流量特性和解决泵加工工艺性差的问题,研制出了锥形流管坡面腔底无阀泵。首先,提出并设计了锥形流管坡面腔底无阀泵,分析了该泵的工作原理;然后,利用ansys软件对泵腔内流场做了模拟分析,分析结果表明该泵具有传输流体的能力;最后,利用3D打印技术制作了锥形流管坡面腔底无阀泵,并对泵的频率-流量特性进行了试验,驱动频率为8Hz时,锥形流管坡面腔底无阀泵的流量达到最大值26.8ml/min,比相同尺寸坡面腔底无阀压电泵在相同驱动电压条件下输出的最大流量增加了18.6%。试验结果表明,锥形流管坡面腔底无阀泵的流量特性优于坡面腔底无阀压电泵,且采用3D打印技术制作压电泵,提高了泵加工的工艺性,缩短了加工周期,降低了加工成本。     

Theory and experimental verification on valveless piezoelectric pump with multistage Y-shape treelike bifurcate tubes

Among most traditional piezo water cooling systems, piezoelectric valve pumps are adopted as their driving sources. The valves in these pumps induce problems of shock and vibration and also make their structure complicated, which is uneasy to minimize and reduce their reliability and applicability of the whole system. In order to avoid these problems caused by valve structure, a novel valveless piezoelectric pump is developed, which integrates both functions of transforming and cooling. The pump’s Y-shape tree-like construction not only increases the efficiency of cooling but also the system reliability and applicability. Firstly, a multistage Y-shape treelike bifurcate tube is proposed, then a valveless piezoelectric pump with multistage Y-shape treelike bifurcate tubes is designed and its working principle is analyzed. Then, the theoretical analysis of flow resistance characteristics and the flow rate of the valveless piezoelectric pump are performed. Meanwhile, commercial software CFX is employed to perform the numerical simulation for the pump. Finally, this valveless piezoelectric pump is fabricated, the relationship between the flow rates and driving frequency, as well as the relationship between the back pressure and the driving frequency are experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that the maximum flow rate is 35.6 mL/min under 100 V peak-to-peak voltage (10.3 Hz) power supply, and the maximum back pressure is 55 mm H2O under 100 V (9 Hz) power supply, which validates the feasibility of the valveless piezoelectric pump with multistage Y-shape treelike bifurcate tubes. The proposed research provides certain references for the design of valveless piezoelectric pump and improves the reliability of piezo water cooling systems.     

非对称分叉流管无阀压电泵的设计及试验

具有微混合功能的多级Y型流管无阀压电泵存在着输出流量与振子带载能力不平衡的问题。为此，提出了一种非对称分叉流管无阀压电泵。首先，理论分析了该无阀压电泵输出流量与流管流阻间的关系；其次，利用有限元软件数值计算了多级Y型流管的流阻特性；最后，采用光固化快速成型技术加工了样机，并进行了泵特性试验和振子振动测试。试验结果表明：在峰峰值200 V正弦波交流电驱动下，该压电泵的流量、扬程和压电振子的振幅都随驱动频率增加呈现先增大后减小的趋势；当驱动频率为31 Hz时，最大流量为4 g/min；驱动频率为38 Hz时，最大扬程为40.5 mmH2O。在试验施加电压范围内，该泵的输出性能与驱动电压呈正相关性。本研究验证了非对称流道树型无阀压电泵的可行性，为非对称无阀压电泵在微流道滴灌和微混合等领域的应用提供了参考。     

三棱柱阻流体无阀压电泵的设计与试验

以三棱柱阻流体为无移动部件阀,结合3D打印技术的快速一体成型特点,设计并制作了以压电振子为动力源的三棱柱阻流体无阀压电泵。分析了该无阀压电泵的工作原理、理论流量和振子振动特性,推导出了它的的流量表达式。利用有限元法对三棱柱阻流体的流阻特性进行了仿真模拟,由其内部压强分布及进出口流速情况,定性分析了三棱柱阻流体的正反向流阻大小。最后,使用3D打印机制作了该无阀泵的试验样机,并进行了流阻和流量测量试验。试验结果表明:三棱柱阻流体具有正反向绕流流阻不等的特性,当驱动电压为550V,驱动频率为8 Hz时,该压电泵的输出流量达到最大,为29.8mL/min。结果证明了该三棱柱阻流体无阀压电泵具有良好的输送流体的能力。     

基于MEMS的压电微泵建模与优化

以压电驱动的无阀微泵为研究对象,根据扩张管/收缩管的压力损失系数和连续方程,建立了无阀微泵的理论模型。利用有限元分析软件,建立了无阀微泵有限元模型,进行了耦合场仿真分析。模拟并分析了不同边界条件下驱动电压、电压频率、泵膜厚度、压电薄膜厚度和压电材料对无阀微泵输出特性的影响。仿真结果显示,无阀微泵具有很好的整流特性,并且驱动电压越大,输出特性越好。在局部固定边界条件下,当压电薄膜上施加电场强度为500 V/mm的驱动电压时,存在最优的压电薄膜厚度,使得微泵的输出流量最大。研究结果为无阀微泵的优化设计提供了依据。     

Advances in Valveless Piezoelectric Pump with Cone-shaped Tubes

This paper reviews the development of valveless piezoelectric pump with cone-shaped tube chronologically, which have widely potential application in biomedicine and micro-electro-mechanical systems because of its novel principles and deduces the research direction in the future. Firstly, the history of valveless piezoelectric pumps with cone-shaped tubes is reviewed and these pumps are classified into the following types: single pump with solid structure or plane structure, and combined pump with parallel structure or series structure. Furthermore, the function of each type of cone-shaped tubes and pump structures are analyzed, and new directions of potential expansion of valveless piezoelectric pumps with cone-shaped tubes are summarized and deduced. The historical argument, which is provided by the literatures, that for a valveless piezoelectric pump with cone-shaped tubes, cone angle determines the flow resistance and the flow resistance determines the flow direction. The argument is discussed in the reviewed pumps one by one, and proved to be convincing. Finally, it is deduced that bionics is pivotal in the development of valveless piezoelectric pump with cone-shaped tubes from the perspective of evolution of biological structure. This paper summarizes the current valveless piezoelectric pumps with cone-shaped tubes and points out the future development, which may provide guidance for the research of piezoelectric actuators.     

Multi-Field Analysis and Experimental Verification on Piezoelectric Valve-Less Pumps Actuated by Centrifugal Force

A piezoelectric centrifugal pump was developed previously to overcome the low frequency responses of piezoelectric pumps with check valves and liquid reflux of conventional valveless piezoelectric pumps. However, the electro-mechanical-fluidic analysis on this pump has not been done. Therefore, multi-field analysis and experimental verification on piezoelectrically actuated centrifugal valveless pumps are conducted for liquid transport applications. The valveless pump consists of two piezoelectric sheets and a metal tube with piezoelectric elements pushing the metal tube to swing at the first bending resonant frequency. The centrifugal force generated by the swinging motion will force the liquid out of the metal tube. The governing equations for the solid and fluid domains are established, and the coupling relations of the mechanical,electrical and fluid fields are described. The bending resonant frequency and bending mode in solid domain are discussed, and the liquid flow rate, velocity profile, and gauge pressure are investigated in fluid domain. The working frequency and flow rate concerning different components sizes are analyzed and verified through experiments to guide the pump design. A fabricated prototype with an outer diameter of 2.2 mm and a length of80 mm produced the largest flow rate of 13.8 m L/min at backpressure of 0.8 k Pa with driving voltage of 80 Vpp. Bysolving the electro-mechanical-fluidic coupling problem,the model developed can provide theoretical guidance on the optimization of centrifugal valveless pump characters.     

A valveless piezoelectric pump with novel flow path design of function of rectification to improve energy efficiency

Existing valveless piezoelectric pumps are mostly based on the flow resistance mechanism to generate unidirectional fluid pumping, resulting in inefficient energy conversion because the majority of mechanical energy is consumed in terms of parasitic loss. In this paper, a novel tube structure composed of a Y-shaped tube and a ȹ-shaped tube was proposed considering theory of jet inertia and vortex dissipation for the first time to improve energy efficiency. After verifying its feasibility through the flow field simulation, the proposed tubes were integrated into a piezo-driven chamber, and a novel valveless piezoelectric pump with the function of rectification (NVPPFR) was reported. Unlike previous pumps, the reported pump directed the reflux fluid to another flow channel different from the pumping fluid, thus improving pumping efficiency. Then, mathematical modeling was established, including the kinetic analysis of vibrator, flow loss analysis of fluid, and pumping efficiency. Eventually, experiments were designed, and results showed that NVPPFR had the function of rectification and net pumping effect. The maximum flow rate reached 6.89 mL/min, and the pumping efficiency was up to 27%. The development of NVPPFR compensated for the inefficiency of traditional valveless piezoelectric pumps, broadening the application prospect in biomedicine and biology fields.     

“Y”形流管无阀压电泵模拟与试验研究

为了对“Y”形流管无阀压电泵的工作特性有更深入的了解,使其更好地满足输血、输液等工作的需要,对“Y”形流管无阀压电泵内部流场及泵流量特性进行了模拟及试验研究。采用CFX软件对“Y”形流管无阀压电泵泵腔内的流场特性进行了模拟分析。结果表明：“Y”形流管无阀压电泵工作时泵腔内的压强变化很小,涡旋对流体传输活体细胞及长链大分子基本无影响。实际制作了“Y”形流管无阀压电泵,并通过改变“Y”形流管的几何尺寸,研究了压电泵进出口端压差的变化规律。试验结果表明压差随支管夹角增大而减小,并且当两支管宽的和接近主管宽时,压差值达到最小,当支管夹角为5°,宽为1.2mm时,压差达到最大的74mm水柱。     

无阀压电泵的流固耦合仿真及试验验证

提出利用结构分析软件ANSYS和流体分析软件ANSYS CFX对无阀压电泵进行流固耦合仿真分析,以研究无阀压电泵的输出性能。分别对进口在中间出口在一侧、出口在中间进口在一侧、进出口对称布置的3种不同结构形式的无阀压电泵进行了流固耦合仿真分析。结果显示,上述3种无阀压电泵中,出口在中间进口在一侧结构形式的无阀压电泵的宏观输出流量最大。制作了3种无阀压电泵的试验样机,并搭建了相应的试验测试系统,在幅值为45 V、频率为0~700Hz的正弦信号激励下对其输出流量进行了测试。结果表明,3种不同结构形式的无阀压电泵的最大输出流量分别为3.8、6.0和4.0ml/min,出口在中间进口在一侧的压电泵输出流量最大,与流固耦合仿真分析的结果相吻合,验证了本文提出的流固耦合仿真分析的方法可以指导压电泵的设计。     

一种仿生型无阀压电泵

针对传统的容积型流阻差式无阀压电泵具有吸入周期和排出周期,存在着流动脉动大、流量小的问题,提出一种新型的鱼鳍摆动式无阀压电泵。模仿在鱼类中巡游速度最快的金枪鱼的鱼体结构,设计了压电双晶片结构的压电振子,并将其尾鳍设计成柔性叶片状。分析了压电双晶片结构悬臂梁的受力变形、模态振型在机电转换效率方面的关系。研制了泵的样机并测量了激励电压在100 V时泵的流量。实验结果表明:振子工作在1阶振型时,泵水效应不明显;振子工作在2阶振型时,谐振频率为740 Hz,泵的流量为266 mL/min;振子工作在3阶振型时,谐振频率为1 280 Hz,泵的流量为105 mL/min。     

半柔性阀压电泵理论与实验

根据静脉瓣结构形式,设计了一种半柔性阀压电泵。首先,介绍了半柔性阀压电泵的结构及工作原理;其次,对阀体进行了理论分析;最后,加工了实验样机,对样机进行性能测试实验。实验结果表明:在驱动电压为220V、频率为7Hz时,半柔性阀压电泵的进出口压差可达到199mm;在驱动电压为220V、频率为11Hz时,半柔性阀压电泵的实验流量为44.5ml/min。随着驱动电压的升高,工作频率与流量出现单峰与双峰的现象。该研究证明了半柔性阀压电泵具有泵的功能并可以实现有阀和无阀状态,验证了其有效性和理论分析的正确性。     

单振子双腔体无阀压电泵结构设计与机理分析

提出了一种单振子双腔体无阀压电泵,应用小挠度弹性弯曲理论导出了圆形复合压电振子的弹性曲面微分方程,分析了采用一个压电振子形成两个工作腔体压电泵的结构和工作机理,并与单振子单腔体压电泵对比分析了该结构与输出流量的关系。设计研制了结构独特、输出性能更高的单振子双腔体无阀压电泵,通过试验表明:单振子双腔体无阀压电泵比单振子单腔体无阀压电泵输出流量有明显提高。     

"Y"形流管无阀压电泵流量及流管流阻特性分析

目前已有无阀压电泵所采用的无移动部件阀要么结构复杂,要么会产生速度、压强变化显著的湍流流场,不利于应用在医疗、卫生、保健等领域进行活体细胞或长链高分子细胞的输送.针对这些问题,研制一种新型无阀压电泵--"Y"形流管无阀压电泵,并对其进行模拟及试验研究.结合医疗领域输血、输液工作的需要,分析当前几种典型无移动部件阀的优缺点,并介绍"Y"形流管无阀压电泵及其流管的特点.对"Y"形流管无阀压电泵进行理论分析,建立泵流量计算公式.基于有限元法对"Y"形流管内流体流动状态进行模拟,得到"Y"形流管内正反流压强变化规律及内部涡旋较锥形流管内涡旋小的结论,并计算得到"Y"形流管正反向流阻.对"Y"形流管无阀压电泵进行理论与试验流量的比较分析,结果表明,理论泵流量与试验泵流量的最小与最大相对误差分别为7%、13%,也证明了理论分析与数值模拟是正确的.     

Theory and Experimental Verification on Cymbal-shaped Slotted Valve Piezoelectric Pump

Valve piezoelectric pumps usually have larger flow rate than that of valveless ones. However, the traditional cantilever valve easily induces stress concentration which impacts the reliability of pumps. Therefore, a cymbal-shaped slotted check valve is proposed to be applied in a piezoelectric pump in order to reduce the stress concentration of the valve and thus improve the reliability of the piezoelectric pump. The structure and working principle of the piezoelectric pump are analyzed; the stress analysis of the cymbal-shaped slotted valve diaphragm is conducted. In addition, finite element software is employed to analyze the difference of the Von-Mises stress between the cymbal-shaped slotted diaphragm and the slotted flat diaphragm. The simulation results show that, the Von-Mises stress of cymbal-shaped slotted diaphragm is smaller than that of the slotted flat one. Furthermore, the cymbal-shaped slotted valve piezoelectric pump is also fabricated, and flow rate experiment is performed. The experimental results indicate that the flow rate of piezoelectric pump working in low frequencies(0 Hz f 50 Hz) is larger than that working in high frequencies(200 Hz f 2000 Hz). When driven at voltage of 160 V and frequency of 5 Hz, the pump reaches its maximum flow rate of 6.6 g/min. The experimental results validate the feasibility of the cymbal-shaped slotted check valve. This research can effectively solve the problem of stress concentration of valve piezoelectric pumps and is helpful for improving the reliability of them.     

螺旋线形阀压电泵的理论与试验研究*

有阀压电泵在精细化工、MEMS、生物医学工程等领域具有重大应用前景。为了克服有阀压电泵结构复杂、跟从与截止性差、成本高等缺点,设计一种异形拟悬臂梁结构的螺旋线形弹性固支阀,其螺旋臂长是简单悬臂梁阀的数倍,工作时开启度大,且因其螺旋线形弹性结构,阀体不仅可以上下回位,左右也具有对中功能,并把这种阀安装在有阀压电泵的泵腔内形成螺旋线形阀压电泵。在深入分析有阀压电泵优缺点的基础上分析螺旋线形阀压电泵的工作原理,依照泵内部能量传递的路径建立压电驱动(电压、频率)为输入与泵流动(流量、压差)为输出之间的关系式,加工试验样机,并进行性能测试试验,螺旋线形阀压电泵具有泵功能,证明了其有效性和理论分析的正确性。试验结果表明：随着驱动电压的增大,泵的输出流量和压差呈上升趋势,这个结果与Matlab数值仿真计算结果趋势一致。在电压为220 V、频率为30 Hz时,得到仿真流量41.26 mL/min,实际试验流量为10.2 mL/min,误差75.3%;在电压为220 V、频率为20 Hz时,得到仿真流量27.51 mL/min,实际试验流量为22.8 mL/min,误差17.2%。     

Theoretical analysis and experimental investigation of valveless piezoelectric pump with unsymmetrical ridges

A novel valveless piezoelectric pump with unsymmetrical ridges is presented at first. It ingeniously utilizes the inner space of its chamber by developing its chamber bottom into unsymmetrical ridges along the direction of the inlet and outlet of the pump. Hence, a series of cuneiform channels are asymmetrically and alternately formed between the unsymmetrical ridges and the piezoelectric vibrator, which enables the pump to form a one-way flow instead of the function of the traditional diffuse or nozzle elements fitted outside the chamber. Then, by analyzing the vibration of the piezoelectric vibrator, the vibration deformation function and the equation of volume change are established. Meanwhile, the theoretical equation of the pump flow rate is established. Finally, a real valveless piezoelectric pump with unsymmetrical ridges is manufactured, and the flow rate of the pump is measured through experiments. It is proved that the theory is rational and correct by comparing the experimental flow rate and the theoretical flow rate. In addition, for calculating the theoretical flow rate, the positive and converse flow resistance coefficients of unsymmetrical ridges are measured through experiments, when one slope angle of the unsymmetrical ridges is 90° and another is changing from 20° to 60°, respectively.