A Silicon Micropump with On-Chip Flow Meter

This paper presents a novel architecture micropump based on a piezoelectric actuation with active valves and an integrated flow sensor. The in-built flow sensor is based on the pressure differential measurement using four strain gauges located on two new membranes arranged in a unique single Wheatstone bridge. The experimental characterization of the flow sensor fitted well with the theory. Additionally, it showed that our built-in sensor gives useful information about the instantaneous flow rate throughout the pump compared to an external flow-meter.