Analysis of a novel piezoelectric micro-pump for drug delivery in a medical integrated micro system

This paper presents a novel pumping method for micro scale applications. The same principle of traveling wave shown in prior articles for propulsion is now used for pumping. The electrode wrapping a piezoelectric tube is divided into six segments. By applying them the same frequency voltage with different amplitude and phase, a traveling wave is produced and the flow is initiated. A commercial piezoelectric tube with inner diameter of 1.54 [mm], outer diameter of 2.18 [mm] and length of 20[mm], using maximal voltage of 20 [volt] can create a volumetric flow rate of about 3 [pl/min]. Operating at maximal voltage of 250 [V] creates a flow of 1 [μl/min].