Analysis of Fluid Pumping with a Throttle Type Piezoelectric Micro Pump

B. Pe?ar[1], D. Križaj[1], D. Vrta?nik[1], D. Resnik[1], U. Aljan?i?[1], M. Možek[1], T. Dolžan[1], A. Slavko[1]
[1]Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UNI of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Published in 2012

Operation of a modified type microthrottle (MT) pump is analyzed by numerical simulation. Conventional MT pumps have disk type piezoelectric membranes while the analyzed type has a membrane of a rectangular shape. This could be advantageous in case the pump is stacked into an array for parallel pumping. A complete electro–fluid–solid mechanics coupling model for numerical simulation of strip type piezoelectric micro pump has been developed using finite element analysis software. Numerical simulations revealed that although during one period of sinusoidal excitation period the liquid volume is flowing in both directions the net pumped fluid volume at the outlet after one period is non-zero (positive), indicating successful fluid pumping.