Micropump With Six Vibrating Membranes: Design Analysis

In this study, a novel design of multiple vibrating membrane micropump has been investigated. The micropump is composed of six membranes and three nozzle/diffuser elements. The membranes were vibrated out-of-phase simultaneously to create pressure difference in the pump chamber. The characteristics of this micropump were analyzed using the finite volume method. The commercial computational fluid dynamics software, FLUENT, with the dynamic mesh algorithm was employed to study velocity field and flow rate during the operating cycle. The simulation results showed that the movement of these membranes combined with the rectification behavior of three nozzle/diffuser elements can minimize back flow and improve net flow in one direction. The average mass flow rate from the micropump increased when the maximum membrane displacement and membrane frequency increased. However, the average mass flow rate from the micropump decreased when pressure head increased. Increases in maximum pressure head were associated with increases in membrane frequency.