A High Power Pneumatic Micropump Using Micro Sheet Valves

For pneumatic microsystems, a high power pneumatic micropump using micro sheet valves (MSVs) was proposed and developed. MSV is a check valve using a floating circular sheet valve body; it has low leakage in the closed state and a low pressure drop in the opened state. In the pneumatic micropump, inlet and outlet MSVs rectify an alternating flow generated by a reciprocating PZT (lead (Pb) zirconate titanate) bimorph disk. For a pneumatic micropump having circular sheet valve bodies with 3.6 mm in diameter and a PZT bimorph disc with 12.7 mm in diameter, simulations were conducted. The estimated maximum pressure and flow rate were 60 kPa and 2.1 cm
³
/s, respectively. Then, MSVs were fabricated using MEMS technologies and characterized through experiments. The pneumatic micropump was constructed using the fabricated MSVs and a PZT bimorph disk, and its pumping characteristics were clarified experimentally. Finally, a membrane actuator with 10 mm in diameter was driven by the pneumatic micropump.