Theory and Experiment of the Valveless Piezoelectric Pump with Rotatable Unsymmetrical Slopes

With no relative motion at joint, no internal contamination, low manufacturing cost, and easy to microminiaturization, the valveless piezoelectric pump has unrivaled application in one-time use and miniaturization. However, the microminiaturization of the pump itself cannot microminiaturize the whole system including the pump. Thus, this paper focuses on how to integrate mixing and transport of piezoelectric liquid. Furthermore, the difficult and challenging issues of the ratio of mixing fluid and composition control are also discussed. The valveless piezoelectric pump with rotatable unsymmetrical slopes is put forward under this background. Its major features are setting drive and transfer in one, also setting transfer and mixing in one. Firstly, the design of the valveless piezoelectric pump with rotatable unsymmetrical slopes is proposed and the one-way flow principle is analyzed. Then, the fluid mechanics model of the valveless piezoelectric pump with rotatable unsymmetrical slopes is established. Meanwhile, the flow numerical analysis and calculation of the pump cavity are done. Finally, the experiments on relationship between the rotation angles of the slope and the flow rate and slope angles of rotation and the two inlets flow ratio are conducted. The experimental results show that: the maximum flow reaches 32.32 ml/min. The maximum relative error between the theoretical results and the experimental ones is 14.59%. According to the curve indicating the rotating different angles of rotatable unsymmetrical slopes to the flow ratio of the two inlets, the experimental and theoretical maximum relative error is 3.75%. Thus, the principle feasibility of the valveless piezoelectric pump with rotatable unsymmetrical slopes and the theory reliability are verified and proven.