Simulation Analysis and Experimental Verification of Spiral-tube-type Valveless Piezoelectric Pump with Gyroscopic Effect

The current research of the valveless piezoelectric pump focuses on increasing the flow rate and pressure differential. Compared with the valve piezoelectric pump, the valveless one has excellent performances in simple structure, low cost, and easy miniaturization. So, their important development trend is the mitigation of their weakness, and the multi-function integration. The flow in a spiral tube element is sensitive to the element attitude caused by the Coriolis force, and that a valveless piezoelectric pump is designed by applying this phenomenon. The pump has gyroscopic effect, and has both the actuator function of fluid transfer and the sensor function, which can obtain the angular velocity when its attitude changes. First, the present paper analyzes the flow characteristics in the tube, obtains the calculation formula for the pump flow, and identifies the relationship between pump attitude and flow, which clarifies the impact of flow and driving voltage, frequency, spiral line type and element attitude, and verifies the gyroscopic effect of the pump. Then, the finite element simulation is used to verify the theory. Finally, a pump is fabricated for experimental testing of the relationship between pump attitude and pressure differential. Experimental results show that when Archimedes spiral θ=4π is selected for the tube design, and the rotation speed of the plate is 70 r/min, the pressure differential is 88.2 Pa, which is 1.5 times that of 0 r/min rotation speed. The spiral-tube-type valveless piezoelectric pump proposed can turn the element attitude into a form of pressure output, which is important for the multi-function integration of the valveless piezoelectric pump and for the development of civil gyroscope in the future.

3D FEM Analyses on Flow Field Characteristics of the Valveless Piezoelectric Pump

Due to the special transportation and heat transfer characteristics,the fractal-like Y-shape branching tube is used in valveless piezoelectric pumps as a no-moving-part valve.However,there have been little analyses on the flow resistance of the valveless piezoelectric pump,which is critical to the performance of the valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes.Flow field of the piezoelectric pump is analyzed by the finite element method,and the pattern of the velocity streamlines is revealed,which can well explain the difference of total flow resistances of the piezoelectric pump.Besides,simplified numerical method is employed to calculate the export flow rate of piezoelectric pump,and the flow field of the piezoelectric pump is presented.The FEM computation shows that the maximum flow rate is 16.4 m L/min.Compared with experimental result,the difference between them is just 55.5%,which verifies the FEM method.The reasons of the difference between dividing and merging flow resistance of the valveless piezoelectric pump with fractal-like Y-shape branching tubes are also investigated in this method.The proposed research provides the instruction to design of novel piezoelectric pump and a rapid method to analyse the pump flow rate.

A valveless piezoelectric pump with novel flow path design of function of rectification to improve energy efficiency

Existing valveless piezoelectric pumps are mostly based on the flow resistance mechanism to generate unidirectional fluid pumping,resulting in inefficient energy conversion because the majority of mechanical energy is consumed in terms of parasitic loss.In this paper,a novel tube structure composed of a Y-shaped tube and aȹ-shaped tube was proposed considering theory of jet inertia and vortex dissipation for the first time to improve energy efficiency.After verifying its feasibility through the flow field simulation,the proposed tubes were integrated into a piezo-driven chamber,and a novel valveless piezoelectric pump with the function of rectification(NVPPFR)was reported.Unlike previous pumps,the reported pump directed the reflux fluid to another flow channel different from the pumping fluid,thus improving pumping efficiency.Then,mathematical modeling was established,including the kinetic analysis of vibrator,flow loss analysis of fluid,and pumping efficiency.Eventually,experiments were designed,and results showed that NVPPFR had the function of rectification and net pumping effect.The maximum flow rate reached 6.89 mL/min,and the pumping efficiency was up to 27%.The development of NVPPFR compensated for the inefficiency of traditional valveless piezoelectric pumps,broadening the application prospect in biomedicine and biology fields.

Design and Experiment of Streamlined Piezoelectric Pump with Low Vortex and Large Flow Rate

Valveless piezoelectric pump is widely used in the medical,however,there is a general and difficult problem to be solved:Low vortex and large flow rate are not compatible,resulting in the blood prone to thrombosis during blood delivery.In this paper,a new valveless piezoelectric(PZT)pump with streamlined flow tubes(streamlined pump)is proposed.The design method and the working principle of the pump are analyzed.The velocity streamlines are simulated,and the results demonstrate that there are no obvious vortexes in the flow tube of the streamlined pump.Five prototype pumps(two cone pumps and three streamlined pumps)are designed and fabricated to perform flow rate and flow resistance experiments.The experimental results illustrate that the maximum flow rate of the streamlined pump is 142 mL/min,which is 179%higher than that of the cone piezoelectric pump,demonstrating that the streamlined pump has a large flow rate performance.This research provides an inspiration for future research on simple structure,low vortex and large flow rate volume-type pumps,and also provides a useful solution for thrombosis preventing.