• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.487-491
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• 2003

The low-cost, simple structured micropump which is actuated by piezoelectric-discs, is fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and the performances of the micropump, such as pump rate and backpressure, are characterized. The PDMS micropump with diffusers instead of passive check valves as a flow-rectifying element was fabricated. The deflection of glass diaphragm measured by atomic force microscope (AFM) is about 0.4$\mu\textrm{m}$ when applying a 150V square wave voltage at 300Hz across a 300${\mu}\ell$ thick piezoelectric disc. While the square wave driving voltage is applied to the piezoelectric disc of the actuator, the flow rate is measured by fluid displacement variation of the outlet tube. The flow rate of micropump increases with enhancing the applied voltage due to the increase of diaphragm deflection. The flow rate and the backpressure of the micropump with diffusers are about 32.9${\mu}\ell$/min and 173Pa respectively for the above mentioned deflection conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.4 s.247
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• pp.350-357
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• 2006

A new valveless micropump for bi-directional application has been developed and tested. The micropump was fabricated on silicon and glass substrates by micromachining process. The micropump in this study consists of a membrane actuator, a pumping chamber, fluidic channels and two piezoelectric ceramic films. The channels and pumping chamber were etched on a glass wafer and the membrane was made on a silion wafer which is actuated by a piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) film. The geometry of the micropump was optimized by numerical analysis and the performance of the micropump was investigated by the experiments. The maximum flow rate was $323{\mu}L/min$ and the maximum back pressure was 294 Pa when the membrane actuator of $10{\times}10mm^2$ was driven at 130 Hz and 385 V.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.229-232
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• 2005

This paper presents the design and fabrication of backflow prevented Micropump using the metal membrane. The Micropump is consisted of the lower plate, metal membrane, upper plate and the piezoelectric-element. The lower plate includes the micro channel and the inlet, outlet of the Micropump. The upper plate includes the micro channel and connects the piezoelectric-element. These plate are fabricated on the Pyrex glass wafer by sandblasting process. The metal membrane does roll of check valve that is prevented backflow of the Micropump. The metal membrane is fabricated on the stainless steel by laser machining. Piezoelectric-element is actuated the Micropump and controlled flowing of fluid. The Micropump is fabricated by bonding process of these multi-layer.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3104-3109
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• 2007

The present study has been carried out to investigate the pumping characteristics for different figures of inlet and outlet in diffuser/nozzle based on piezoelectric micropump. Piezoelectric micropump system consists of several parts like a pumping chamber, diffuser/nozzle, piezoelectric element and tubes. Parts of the micropump connected with diffuser/nozzle and tubes have been analyzed.. The magnified parts have been classified into two different models based on their resistance. These models have been further classified into six models with each one having three different angles at the magnified parts. Each model has been compared and analyzed using the simulation tool, namely, CFD-ACE depending on their flow rates and characteristics.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1864-1869
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• 2003

A novel piezoelectric micropump using active check valves in place of conventional passive check valves in inlet and outlet has been proposed and investigated. It actively controls open/close motion of check valves using piezoelectric actuator for expansion/contraction of pump chamber. In this paper, bi-directional flow characteristics and load characteristics are experimentally investigated using an adequate timing control for valve closing motion with a prototype micropump fabricated with the effective size of $17{\times}8{\times}11mm^{3}$. From the experimental results, it is ascertained that optimal values of phase shift against voltage to drive pump chamber for realization of a miniaturized but powerful micropump, are $15^{\circ}$ in inlet check valve and $195^{\circ}$ in 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 the effective size of $10{\times}10{\times}10mm^{3}$ is fabricated and basic characteristics are experimentally investigated.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1996.07c
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• pp.1957-1959
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• 1996

In this paper, a piezoelectric micropump is fabricated and tested. The micropump consists of an actuator and two micronozzles have been made of silicon. It contains a piezoelectric polymer which allows opening and closing of the valves electrically. The actuator and the two micronozzles are fabricated by the anisotropic etch using EPW. Then, the fabricated actuator and the valves are anodically bonded with the pyrex glass which consists of the inlet and the outlet channels. The measured deflection of the piezoelectric polymer is $54\;{\mu}m$ at 1.6 kHz. The maximum pumping flow rate and the backward pressure of the micropump are $22\;{\mu}{{\ell}/min$, 8.7 Pa at 10 Hz, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.07c
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• pp.1926-1928
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• 2003

The low-cost, simple structured micropump which is actuated by piezoelectricdiscs, is fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and the performances of the micropump, such as pump rate and backward pressure, are characterized. The PDMS micropump with diffusers instead of passive check valves as a flow-rectifying element was fabricated. While the square wave driving voltage is applied to the piezoelectric disc of the actuator, the flow rate is measured by fluid displacement variation of the outlet tube. The flow rate of micropump increases with enhancing the applied voltage due to the increase of diaphragm deflection. The flow rate and the backward pressure of the micropump with diffusers are about $32.9{\mu}{\el}$/min and 173Pa respectively for the above mentioned deflection conditions.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2005

This study has been conducted to investigate flow characteristics of a micropump with piezoelectric materials. In this study, the change of flow rates has been investigated for different positions of the inlet and outlet and for different distances between them. The FSI(Fluid Structure Interaction) method has been employed for numerical analysis of the piezoelectric diffuser/nozzle based micropump. It has been found that time averaged flow rate is greater in the case that distance between the inlet and outlet is longer. For the cases where the positions of the inlet are different with the position of the fixed outlet at the center, the flow rate is increased as the inlet is located farther from the center. This study may supply fundamental understandings for the design and analysis of the prototypes of piezoelectric micropumps.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.39-47
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• 2005

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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.35-41
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• 2006

In this paper, we focus on improving the performance of the piezoelectric diaphragms of valveless micropumps. A circular lightweight piezoelectric composite actuator (LIPCA) with a high level of displacement and output force has been developed for piezoelectrically actuated micropumps. We used numerical and experimental methods to analyze the characteristics of the actuator to select optimal design. With the developed circular LIPCA, we fabricated a valveless micropump by photo-lithography and PDMS molding techniques. The displacement of the diaphragm, the flow rate and the back pressure of the micropump were evaluated and discussed. With a semi-empirical method, the flow rate with respect to driving frequency was predicted and compared with experimental one. The test results confirm that the circular LIPCA is a promising candidate for micropump application and can be used as a substitute for a conventional piezoelectric actuator diaphragm.