Design of a valveless micropump for medical drug delivery systems

The objective is to develop improved microvalve and micropump designs to simplify fabrication process, decrease manufacturing cost and increase efficiency. In this paper, a new prototype model of a micropump using piezoelectric (PZT) disc as the actuator is designed. This paper describes the structure and the working principle of new micropump using PZT disc as an actuator. The main basic structure includes a pump body with valveless structure and piezoelectric disc. The overall size of this prototype is the same as the diameter of a PZT disc about 4cm x 5cm. The working principle relies on the vibration of a membrane by applying a.c. voltage to the PZT actuator. The fabrication process is simplified, comparing with traditional manufacturing method and save time and cost. While fabrication and design are discussed herein, experimental results and pump performance will be reported separately. The developed micropump is able to produce a micro-flow rate suitable for medical applications such as drug delivery system.