Bi-Directional AC Electroosmosis Micropump for Medical Applications

The design, fabrication and control unit of a novel medical implant silicon micropump based on AC electroosmosis is presented in this research. The advent of microfabrication and integrated miniature pumps has applications on devices like implantable glucose sensors. These micropumps find their greatest applications in biomedical devices requiring the transport of small, accurately measured liquid quantities. Such types of micropumps can be programmed to administer insulin at a constant rate throughout the day, thus eliminating any surges or deficits of the drug in the patient’s bloodstream [1]. These micropumps can also be integrated with the lab-on-a-chip and can provide inexpensive, disposable devices. The strict performance requirements of medical devices call out for highly reliable micropump designs. To demonstrate the fluid manipulation in glucose sensor applications, an optimized and well-controlled biased AC electroosmotic micropump is developed using symmetrical electrode array. Experimental results also show that this kind of miniature pump has potential applications in portable infusion/suction systems.