Development of a peristaltic micro pump system - technical realisation

This paper reports about the development and the technical realization of a piezoelectric driven micro pump using the peristaltic principle. The driving mechanism is an active elastic tube made of a linear array of piezoelectric multilayer bending elements and passive materials. A fully functional prototype has been developed which shows a fine tuneable flow rate of 0,1 ml to 7 ml a day and a maximum zero flow pressure of 50 mbar at a driving voltage of 60 V. The driving circuit is powered from a 3 V battery supply. During active closing the bending elements operate in reverse mode. The flow rate can be adjusted by frequency, stroke and the driving pattern