A new design of Electrostatic Traveling Wave (ETW) micropump and the effect of parameters on the flow rate

In this study, a novel Electrostatic Traveling Wave (ETW) micropump is designed and fabricated, in which the fluid is driven by a three-phase Electrostatic Traveling Wave. The experiments show that the micropump is able to generate a flow rate of 135 μl/s. The effect of the key variables (voltage, frequency and height of fluid) on the flow rate is investigated using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The correlation of the involved parameters was examined by employing the Central Composite Design (CCD) method through designating set up experiments that will determine the interaction of the variables. Furthermore, optimization was performed; the roles of parameters and their interactions were analyzed. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) shows that all parameters have a significant influence on the flow rate. The highest interaction of variables belongs to the frequency and height of fluid with the optimized condition of 25 Hz and 2.0606 mm, respectively. Under the optimized condition, results show good agreement between the measured flow rate and the fitted one.