A High Power Micropump Using Active Check Valves Driven by Piezoelectric Actuators

압전구동 능동형 체크밸브를 이용한 고출력 마이크로펌프

In this paper, a novel high power micropump using active check valves in place of conventional passive check valves employed at the inlet and outlet ports is presented. It actively controls open/close motion of check valves using piezoelectric actuator for expansion/contraction of pump chamber. A prototype micropump having an effective size of $17mm{\times}8mm{\times}11mm$ is fabricated. Frequency-dependent flow rate characteristics, bi-directional flow characteristics and load characteristics are experimentally investigated using a timing control method for valve closing motion. From the obtained experimental results, it is ascertained that optimal values of the phase shift compared to the voltage to drive pump chamber are $15^{\circ}$ for inlet check valve and $195^{\circ}$ for outlet. Based on the obtained results, a sheet-type active shuttle valve that has a unified valve-body for inlet and outlet check valves is proposed. A micropump with an effective size of $10mm{\times}10mm{\times}10mm$ is fabricated and the basic characteristics are experimentally investigated.