Piezoelectrically actuated miniature peristaltic pump

Increasingly NASA experiments, instruments and applications are requiring pumps that are miniature and consume low power. To address this need, a piezoelectrically actuated pump is being developed. This pump employs a novel volume displacing mechanism using flexural traveling waves that act peristaltically eliminating the need for valves or physically moving parts. Finite element model was developed using ANSYS to predict the resonance frequency of the vibrating mode for the piezopump driving stator. The model also allows determining simultaneously the mode shapes that are associated with the various resonance frequencies. This capability is essential for designing the pump size and geometry. To predict and optimize the pump efficiency, which is determined by the volume of pumping chambers, the model was modified to perform harmonic analysis. Current capability allows the determination of the effect of such design parameters as pump geometry, construction materials and operating modes on the volume of the chambers that is available between the peaks and valleys of the waves. Experiments were conducted using a breadboard of the piezopump and showed water-pumping rate of about 3.0 cc/min. The performance of pump is continuing to be modified to enhance the performance and efficiency.