In this study, a modified two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model is used to analyze the deflections of the piezoelectric actuator of valveless micropump after being driven by applied voltage. And the volume change of the pump chamber caused by the deformation of the piezoelectric actuator is calculated. We expect these analyses will help the design of piezoelectric valveless micropump. This model is able to analyze the piezoelectric materials which can transform the mechanical energy to electric energy and vice versa by properly assuming the three displacement fields and including the electrical potential as the fourth degree of freedom. Comparisons of some examples are made between the present work and those available in the literature to validate the exactitude and the feasibility of the present work. Furthermore, the inspections of the variations of the deflections will be carried out by changing the geometrical dimensions of the piezoelectric actuators under the same driven voltage.

An alternating current electroosmotic micro pumping device has been designed, experimentally tested and theoretically analyzed using an electrohydrodynamic theoretical model applied to a computer simulation model. The device SP-1 is a microelectrode array which uses the principal of AC electroosmosis (EO), ions driven along microelectrode surfaces by coulomb forces produced by tangential electric fields. These ions, when driven, induce a net fluid motion due to viscous drag forces. Three submerged microelectrode wires were deposited on a substrate using microfabrication techniques such that a square spiral geometry was formed. Device SP-1 received asymmetrically applied AC signals creating a travelling wave of potential and resulted in a net fluid flow across the microelectrode array. Microsphere tracer particles were suspended in ethanol to measure the fluid velocity to determine pumping performance and the experimental operating frequency at which maximum fluid velocity is achieved. The experimental results were reviewed and at an AC signal frequency of 125 Hz, device SP-1 was capable of pumping ethanol at a fluid velocity of approximately 270 μm/s. The experimental results were in good agreement with the theoretical predictions produced using the computer simulation model. In addition, the computer simulation model predicted a similar flow profile to those previously predicted and experimentally observed. Overall, novel micropumping device SP-1 was found to produce a net flow comparable to previously tested devices and a computer simulation framework capable of analyzing future micropump design concepts was developed. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2011-04-01 17:12:02.908

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) micropumps have been developed and used in many diverse applications such as in microscale liquid cooling and various microfluidic systems. The objective of this research is to investigate different methods of enhancing the performance of ion drag EHD micropumps. In particular, the effect of electrode surface topology, applied electric field and doping agent in the dielectric liquid were investigated. The effect of 3D sharp features on the electrodes on charge injection in HFE 7100 as dielectric fluid was studied under an applied DC electric field. Micro and nano-scale features with high aspect ratio were developed on smooth copper electrodes by chemical etching or through electrophoretic deposition of single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT). The spacing between the electrodes was kept at 250 µm. A reduction factor of 5 was achieved for SWCNT electrodes compared to the smooth case for the onset of charge injection. This study was then extended to determine its effects on the performance of ion drag EHD micropumps with 100 pairs of interdigitated electrodes. The emitter electrodes (20 µm) were half the width of the collector electrodes (40 µm), with one pump having an inter-electrode spacing of 120 µm and the other with 40 µm. Each micropump had a width of 5 mm and a height of 100 µm. SWCNT was deposited on the emitter electrodes of the micropump to generate a maximum static pressure of 4.7 kPa at 900 V, which is a 5 fold increase compared to the pump with smooth electrodes. Flow rate at no back pressure condition was improved by a factor of 3. The effect of Ferrocene as a doping agent in the working fluid HFE 7100 was studied under DC voltages. A maximum static pressure of 6.7 kPa was achieved at 700 V with 0.2% weight based doping agent, 11 times higher than when there was no doping agent at the same applied voltage. When there was no back pressure the pump generated a maximum flow rate of 0.47 mL/min at 700 V with 0.05% doping agent which is 9 times greater than with no doping agent. The effect of pulsed voltage on the performance of ion drag EHD micropump has been studied to exploit the displacement current at the sudden change of applied voltage magnitude. A range of pulse repetition rate and duty cycle were found to significantly enhance the pump performance. Static pressure generation was up to 75% and 88% greater at an optimal pulse repetition rate and duty cycle, respectively, compared to the average of the two DC levels. The effect of external flow on the discharge characteristics of an injection micropump was studied with DC volts. Higher discharge current and lower threshold voltage for the onset of charge injection in case of co-flow compared to the static case was observed. There was an optimum flow rate to generate maximum current for both co and counter-flow cases. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

<p>There is a need for reliable valves and pumps in microfluidics. A good microactuator is the key for low cost and high performance of these components.</p><p>Paraffin wax is a promising material to be used as actuator material as is can produce large forces and large strokes. Further, the material is inexpensive and, none the less, the thermal heating of the material can be made with low voltages. All these properties are of interest in flow control components in microfluidics, and especially for disposables and in potable systems.</p><p>In this work, paraffin wax has been used in devices and concepts. A valve for high-pressures, a peristaltic pump, a multi-stable actuator, and injector has been shown. A material study was performed on binary mixtures of pure paraffin (n-alkanes), and a concept for loading fluid into a sealed reservoir was shown as well. Several injectors were demonstrated in a Lab-on-a-chip system with other microfluidic components.</p><p>High pressure applications in microfluidics along with the multi-stable actuator show good potential. However, the drive and control has to be further developed.</p>

There is a need for reliable valves and pumps in microfluidics. A good microactuator is the key for low cost and high performance of these components. Paraffin wax is a promising material to be used as actuator material as is can produce large forces and large strokes. Further, the material is inexpensive and, none the less, the thermal heating of the material can be made with low voltages. All these properties are of interest in flow control components in microfluidics, and especially for disposables and in potable systems. In this work, paraffin wax has been used in devices and concepts. A valve for high-pressures, a peristaltic pump, a multi-stable actuator, and injector has been shown. A material study was performed on binary mixtures of pure paraffin (n-alkanes), and a concept for loading fluid into a sealed reservoir was shown as well. Several injectors were demonstrated in a Lab-on-a-chip system with other microfluidic components. High pressure applications in microfluidics along with the multi-stable actuator show good potential. However, the drive and control has to be further developed.

A design optimization based on coupled solid–fluid analysis is investigated in this work to achieve specific flow rate through a peristaltic micropump. A micropump consisting of four pneumatically actuated nozzle/diffuser shaped moving actuators on the sidewalls is considered for numerical study. These actuators are used to create pressure difference in the four pump chambers, which in turn drives the fluid through the pump in one direction. Genetic algorithms along with artificial neural networks are used for optimizing the pump geometry and the actuation frequency. A simple example with moving walls is considered for validation by developing an exact analytical solution of Navier–Stokes equation and comparing it with numerical simulations. Possible applications of these pumps are in microelectronics cooling and drug delivery. Based on the results obtained from the fluid–structure interaction analysis, three optimized geometries result in flow rates which match the predicted flow rates with 95% accuracy. These geometries need further investigation for fabrication and manufacturing issues.

The incorporation of active piezoelectric elements and fluidic components into micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) is of great interest for the development of sensors, actuators, and integrated systems used in microfluidics. Low temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC), widely used as electronic packaging materials, offer the possibility of manufacturing highly integrated microfluidic systems with complex 3-D features and various co-firable functional materials in a multilayer module. It would be desirable to integrate high performance lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based ceramics into LTCC-based MEMS using modern thick film and 3-D packaging technologies. The challenges for fabricating functional LTCC/PZT devices are: 1) formulating piezoelectric compositions which have similar sintering conditions to LTCC materials; 2) reducing elemental inter-diffusion between the LTCC package and PZT materials in co-firing process; and 3) developing active piezoelectric layers with desirable electric properties. The goal of present work was to develop low temperature fired PZT-based materials and compatible processing methods which enable integration of piezoelectric elements with LTCC materials and production of high performance integrated multilayer devices for microfluidics. First, the low temperature sintering behavior of piezoelectric ceramics in the solid solution of Pb(Zr0.53,Ti0.47)O3-Sr(K0.25, Nb0.75)O3 (PZT-SKN) with sintering aids has been investigated. 1 wt% LiBiO2 + 1 wt% CuO fluxed PZT-SKN ceramics sintered at 900oC for 1 h exhibited desirable piezoelectric and dielectric properties with a reduction of sintering temperature by 350oC. Next, the fluxed PZT-SKN tapes were successfully laminated and co-fired with LTCC materials to build the hybrid multilayer structures. HL2000/PZT-SKN multilayer ceramics co-fired at 900oC for 0.5 h exhibited the optimal properties with high field d33 piezoelectric coefficient of 356 pm/V. A potential application of the developed LTCC/PZT-SKN multilayer ceramics as a microbalance was demonstrated. The final research focus was the fabrication of an HL2000/PZT-SKN multilayer piezoelectric micropump and the characterization of pumping performance. The measured maximum flow rate and backpressure were 450 μl/min and 1.4 kPa respectively. Use of different microchannel geometries has been studied to improve the pumping performance. It is believed that the high performance multilayer piezoelectric devices implemented in this work will enable the development of highly integrated LTCC-based microfluidic systems for many future applications.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le développement d’un Dispositif Médical d’Injection (DMI) automatisé dans lequel est intégrée une micropompe en technologie silicium. Le cœur de cette micropompe est constitué d’une membrane actionnée permettant de déplacer un volume de liquide à travers des canaux micro-fluidiques. Deux types de membranes actionnées ont été étudiés : une membrane à actionnement bimétallique intégré et une membrane à actionnement piézoélectrique externe. Des simulations FEM ont permis d’affiner les modèles théoriques existants et de mieux rendre compte des effets non linéaires qui régissent le fonctionnement de ces membranes. Une méthode d’optimisation spécialement mise en place a permis de calculer des configurations géométriques optimales en fonction des plages de fonctionnement visées. Des membranes ont ensuite été fabriquées en salle blanche. Leurs caractéristiques mécaniques ont été mesurées et comparées aux prédictions des simulations FEM. / This thesis fits into the development of an automated Injection Medical Device (IMD) in which is integrated a micropump in silicon technology. The heart of this micropump is constituted by an actuated membrane which moves a volume of liquid through microfluidic channels. Two types of actuated membranes were studied: a membrane with an integrated bimetallic actuator and a membrane with an external piezoelectric actuator. FEM simulations enabled the refinement of existing theoretical models and a better representation of nonlinear effects that govern the mechanics of such membranes. An optimization method specially putted in place enabled the computation of optimal geometric configurations according to the targeted functioning ranges. Some membranes were then fabricated in cleanroom. Their mechanical characteristics were measured and compared to predictions of FEM simulations.

No description available.