Proposal of a new design for valveless micropumps

A new design for a valveless micropumping device has been proposed that integrates two existing pumping technologies, namely, the wall induced traveling wave and the obstacle-type valveless micropump. The liquid in the microchannel is transported by generating a traveling wave on the channel, while the placing of two asymmetric trapezoid obstacles, along the centerline of the channel inlet and outlet, leads to a significant (up to seven times) increase of the net flow rate of the device. The effectiveness of this innovative design has been proved through a verified three-dimensional finite element model. Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) analysis is performed in the framework of an Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method.