Development of a piezoelectric pump for a highly-precise constant flow rate

Recently, piezoelectric-driven small and micro-sized pumps have been developed for applications in microfluidics, bio-chemistry diagnostics, fuel cell systems, drug delivery, and high-power electronics cooling, etc. This paper describes a piezoelectric pump using a multilayered piezoelectric actuator for highly-precise constant flow rate. The design, fabrication, and basic characteristics of the developed piezoelectric pump are summarized. The proposed pump consists of a pump housing, a multilayered piezoelectric actuator, a valve sheet and a single check valve for an inlet port. The overall dimensions of the fabricated piezoelectric pump are 25 mm x 25 mm x 53 mm. Pumping characteristics were experimentally investigated. The fabricated pump achieved a no-load flow rate of 110 ml/min and a maximum output power of 130 mW at an applied voltage of 150 Vpp and a driving frequency of 700 Hz.