A Dual-Chamber Serial–Parallel Piezoelectric Pump with an Integrated Sensor for Flow Rate Measurement

A new concept of a dual-chamber serial-parallel piezoelectric pump with an integrated sensor (DSPPIS) is presented in this paper. By means of dividing a piezoelectric bimorph into an actuator and a sensor, sensing function is integrated onto the DSPPIS for flow rate measurement. A prototype of the DSPPIS was manufactured and assembled from a finished piezoelectric bimorph. Then, frequency and voltage characteristics were tested to evaluate the performance of the DSPPIS with serial and parallel connection. Experimental results show that the optimal frequency range of DSPPIS can be achieved and determined by itself through monitoring the sensing voltage when driven by a fixed voltage of 150 Vpp and a frequency range of 40–400 Hz. For a fixed frequency of 100 Hz and a voltage range of 50–250 Vpp, both the sensing voltage and output flow rate increase with the increase of driving voltage. It is observed that there is a positive correlation between sensing voltage and output flow rate, which was further fitted by using linear function. The correlation coefficients for the DSPPIS with serial and parallel connection are calculated as 0.9716 and 0.9054, respectively. As a result, the DSPPIS demonstrated in this paper has realized the measurement of flow rate without the additional flow-sensing equipment both in serial and parallel connection.

[1]  Zheyao Wang,et al.  A self-bended piezoresistive microcantilever flow sensor for low flow rate measurement , 2010 .

[2]  Jun Huang,et al.  Equivalent Circuit Modeling for a Valveless Piezoelectric Pump , 2018, Sensors.

[3]  J. Kan,et al.  Flow rate self-sensing of a pump with double piezoelectric actuators , 2013 .

[4]  Shun-Fa Hwang,et al.  Fabrication and characterization of two-chamber and three-chamber peristaltic micropumps , 2010 .

[5]  Fumihito Arai,et al.  Novel touch sensor with piezoelectric thin film for microbial separation , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.03CH37422).

[6]  Nam-Trung Nguyen,et al.  Integrated flow sensor for in situ measurement and control of acoustic streaming in flexural plate wave micropumps , 2000 .

[7]  Guoren Zhu,et al.  Development of serial-connection piezoelectric pumps , 2008 .

[8]  Yu-Hsiang Hsu,et al.  A miniature circular pump with a piezoelectric bimorph and a disposable chamber for biomedical applications , 2016 .

[9]  Zhonghua Zhang,et al.  Effects of driving mode on the performance of multiple-chamber piezoelectric pumps with multiple actuators , 2015 .

[10]  Li Guo,et al.  Valveless piezoelectric micropump of parallel double chambers , 2012 .

[11]  P. Woias,et al.  A self-priming and bubble-tolerant piezoelectric silicon micropump for liquids and gases , 1998, Proceedings MEMS 98. IEEE. Eleventh Annual International Workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. An Investigation of Micro Structures, Sensors, Actuators, Machines and Systems (Cat. No.98CH36176.

[12]  B. D. Shafer,et al.  An electronically controlled piezoelectric insulin pump and valves , 1978, IEEE Transactions on Sonics and Ultrasonics.

[13]  Jingshi Dong,et al.  Structure design and experimental study on single-bimorph double-acting check-valve piezoelectric pump , 2016 .

[14]  Zhonghua Zhang,et al.  A piezoelectric micropump with an integrated sensor based on space-division multiplexing , 2013 .

[15]  Raymond Campagnolo,et al.  A novel volumetric silicon micropump with integrated sensors , 2012 .

[16]  Ling Huang,et al.  Development and Characterization a Single-Active-Chamber Piezoelectric Membrane Pump with Multiple Passive Check Valves , 2016, Sensors.