Abstract
The flow characteristics have been numerically investigated for various shapes of the diffuser/nozzles which are used for a valveless micro-pump. The important parameters considered in this study are the throat width ($15\~120\mu$m), the taper angle ($3.15\~25.2^{\circ}$), and the diffuser length ( $600\~4,800\mu$m), and the size of the middle chamber ($1\~16mm^2$). To find the optimal values for these parameters, steady state calculations have been performed assuming the constant pressure difference between the inlet and exit of the flow For the taper angle and the throat width, it is found that there exists an optimum at which the net flow rate is the greatest. The optimal taper angle is in the range of $10\~20^{\circ}$ for all the pressure differences; and the throat width indicates an optimal value near $75\mu$m for the case of 35 kPa pressure difference. The net flow rate is also influenced by the size of the middle chamber. With decreasing chamber size, the net flow rate is reduced because of the interference between two streams flowing into the middle chamber. The unsteady pulsating flow characteristics for a micro-pump with a given diffuser/nozzle shape have been also investigated to show the validity of the steady state parametric study.
