Development of Miniature Precision Progressive Wave Type Piezoelectric Pump

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This study is about a novel small piezoelectric pump. The pump utilizes a thin vibration plate on which bimorph type piezoelectric actuators generate progressive wave. The pump and its theoretical principle can be developed in the future to be utilized in water-cooled mobile computer, portable insulin injection system, micro-total analysis system (micro-TAS) and so on. Usually, a normal piezoelectric pump needs check valves and sends fluid only in one direction. However the proposed pump doesn't use check valves and can send fluid to both forward and backward directions. In this research, principle of the proposed pump is described at first, and then examination by experiment and simulation is discussed. The authors prepare two types of the vibration plate. One has four pairs of piezoelectric bimorph cells and another has two pairs. Motion of the two types of vibration plates in the air for sinusoidal drive with phase difference among the bimorph cells is investigated by both simulation and experiment. Water flow generated by progressive wave on the vibration plate is also investigated by finite elements analysis. Characteristics of the pump are examined by experiments. As a result, effectiveness of principle of the pump with progressive wave is shown by both experiments and simulations. Ability and problems of the experimental pump in the present condition are clarified.Very thin prototype pump is also realized. Efficiency of propagation of progressive wave in the vibration plate is also investigated. Even though various investigations are carried out, amount of flux doesn't increase so much. It is clarified that stiffness of the vibration plate have to be increase to obtain larger power of the pump. Finally important technical issues for practical use are clarified.