Simulation and Dynamic Characterization of a 3-Layer Piezo-Actuated Valveless Micropump System

In order to design the valveless micropump with a Piezo actuator, it is essential to understand the dynamic properties of the actuating system. Besides several other considerations in designing of microfluidic systems, the efficiency of valveless micropumps also strongly depends on parameters of the actuation system including the actuation frequency. Cleary, higher displacement of the diaphragm results in higher output flow rate of the pump. Thus, studying the dynamic behavior of the actuation system forms one of the important considerations for the design of micropumps. Three different models of the actuating system for the fabricated micropump system are proposed with different boundary conditions and are simulated by finite element method using ANSYS. Comparison of the experimental results and the simulation results of the natural frequencies of the system shows that the proposed simulation method can also be now used as a tool to optimize the design of the actuation system in terms of natural frequency of the system.