Abstract
For application to micro fluid control systems such as ${\mu}TAS$ (Micro Total Analysis Systems) and DDS (Drug Delivery Systems), it is very significant to handle precise and minute flow rates with low pressure pulsation. In this study, a novel valveless piezoelectric pump using peristaltic motion with three disk type PZT actuators is presented. The newly devised pump with an effective size of $70mm{\times}60mm{\times}55mm$ has three actuator layers connected in series from inlet to outlet. The PZT actuator has a maximum displacement of 240 ${\mu}m$ and a maximum force of 1.6 N. When the driving voltage for PZT actuators is sequentially applied with a certain phase shift, the pumping is performed by peristaltic motion of liquid volume. The working fluid is shut off without the driving voltage. Three methods for sequential driving are proposed and experimentally investigated. First and second methods utilize an intermittent sinusoidal waveform with phase shift of $90{\circ}\;and\;120^{\circ}$, respectively. Third method uses a rectangular waveform with phase shift of $90^{\circ}$. A controller with multi-phase shifter is designed and fabricated. Then, frequency and voltage-flow rate characteristics and load pressure-flow rate characteristics are experimentally investigated to verify the validity of the developed pump.
