| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 736194 | Sensors and Actuators A: Physical | 2015 | 8 Pages |
•A piezoelectric micropump using dual-frequency drive is proposed.•A dual-frequency vibrator is designed by using the two modifying methods we studied.•A prototype piezoelectric micropump is designed, fabricated and tested.•Performances of prototype micropump driven by different waves are compared.•The performances of dual-frequency drive micropump are over 155% improved.
A dual-frequency micropump is proposed and investigated to improve the performance of a piezoelectric micropump for specific application. Through a careful design, the first bending resonant frequency of the vibrator for pumping is one-third of the third bending resonant frequency. When a square wave voltage is used to drive the vibrator, its first and third bending vibration modes are excited. Experimental results show that the maximum flow rate of 163.7 ml/min and a maximum back pressure of 29.7 kPa are obtained when the micropump is driven with a square-wave voltage of 400 Vp-p at 445.5 Hz. Both results are over 155% of those obtained from the single-frequency drive at the same driving voltage swing.
