Author(s)

Y. UETSUJI, T. HIRAMORI, N. NISHIGUCHI, H. KURAMAE & K. TSUCHIYA

Abstract

This paper presents a computational and experimental study of a valveless pump driven by a noble piezoelectric composite actuator consisting of a bimorph piezoelectric plate and a metal cap. The superiority of deformation performance of the proposed composite actuator was demonstrated computationally through finite element simulation and was then verified experimentally by deflection measurements of a disc-shaped prototype under an alternating electric field. The proposed composite actuator was applied to a valveless pump in a Y-shaped fluid channel. The pump’s performance was estimated using a piezoelectric-fluid interaction finite element simulation. The effect of the fluid channel configuration was investigated, and the liquid feed volume is discussed and compared with that of conventional actuators.

Keywords

Deflection measurement, finite element simulation, m-TAS, piezoelectric actuator, piezoelectric–fluid interaction, valveless pump.