Design Evaluation for Performance Characteristics of a Novel Valveless Micropump

A novel micropump droplet generator for aerosol drug delivery: Design simulations

“…4. This micropump was previously presented by Koombua et al 48 to pump fluid continuously and has a combination of diffuser-nozzle elements. The unique operating characteristics of the proposed micropump result from a specific sequence of membrane motions ͑Fig.…”

“…The droplets for medical applications such as aerosol formation or microinjection require a continuous supply of droplets for accurate dosing. Koombua et al 48 proposed a micropump with three nozzles/diffusers fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane, which can convey a liquid continuously. The micropump is valveless and produces no backflow that typically impedes the performance of these devices.…”

“…The micropump is valveless and produces no backflow that typically impedes the performance of these devices. Both liquid and particle transport through this micropump have been investigated by Koombua et al 48 and Su and Pidaparti. 49 In this study, we propose the novel concept of droplet generation through this micropump and refer to it as the "micropump droplet generator" ͑MDG͒.…”

Bio-Inspired Multi-Functional Drug Transport Design Concept and Simulations

“…An idealized geometry representing of NPC containing the central plug, bottom basket, and top cytoplasm rings (nozzle/diffuser/nozzle elements) shown in Figure 1 a, similar to the one described in the literature [ 4 ], was considered in this study. Kittisak et al [ 19 ] demonstrated in computational studies that there are several advantages to using the three nozzle-diffuser microdevice as compared to the two nozzle-diffuser pump including minimization of backflow, more directed flow from inlet to outlet, steady flow velocities, and better laminar flow characteristics throughout the entire microdevice. The sidewall motion can be achieved either through piezoelectric or magnetic actuator or any combination.…”

“…The present manuscript is a summary of the previous research investigations by the authors. In previous publication, the device concept (nozzle/diffuser/nozzle) was demonstrated through simulations for each aspect of its functionality, fluid pumping [ 19 ], drug delivery [ 20 , 21 ], or particle sorting [ 22 ] applications. Once we demonstrated the feasibility of each of the applications, we felt that the device concept could be adapted to multiple applications, and that is the focus of the present paper.…”