Study of an innovative one-sided actuating piezoelectric valveless micropump with a secondary chamber

Previous studies have indicated that a one-sided actuating piezoelectric micropump (OAPMP) combined with two valves may enhance the liquid flow rate to 4.1 ml/s and make it possible to reach the maximum pump head of 9807 Pa in a limited space. In this study, an innovative one-sided actuating piezoelectric valveless micropump (OAPMP-valveless) has been developed to actuate fluid at a higher flow rate in one direction by adding a secondary chamber. The secondary chamber plays a key role in the application of the valveless micropump: the flow rate of the pump can reach 0.989 ml/s by adding a secondary chamber. The maximum pump head is 1522.5 Pa when using the 0.3 mm-thick secondary diaphragm and the 0.5 mm-thick primary diaphragm. In addition, if a nozzle/diffuser element is applied to the OAPMP-valveless with a secondary chamber, the flow rate can be further improved to 1.183 ml/s at a frequency of 150 Hz. A three-dimensional numerical model of the valveless micropump has been built to compare the measured results with the simulated results.