Mechanical micropumps and their applications: A review

The significant advancements within the electronics miniaturization field have shifted the scientific interest towards a new class of precision devices, namely microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Specifically, MEMS refers to microscaled precision devices generally produced through micromachining techniques that combine mechanical and electrical components for fulfilling tasks normally carried out by macroscopic systems. Although their presence is found throughout all the aspects of daily life, recent years have witnessed countless research works involving the application of MEMS within the biomedical field, especially in drug synthesis and delivery, microsurgery, microtherapy, diagnostics and prevention, artificial organs, genome synthesis and sequencing, and cell manipulation and characterization. Their tremendous potential resides in the advantages offered by their reduced size, including ease of integration, lightweight, low power consumption, high resonance frequency, the possibility of integration with electrical or electronic circuits, reduced fabrication costs due to high mass production, and high accuracy, sensitivity, and throughput. In this context, this paper aims to provide an overview of MEMS technology by describing the main materials and fabrication techniques for manufacturing purposes and their most common biomedical applications, which have evolved in the past years.

Section: Bimetallic Micropumpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The advantages of bimetallic micropumps include the generation of high forces, low operating voltage, and simplicity of the design. However, small-diaphragm deflection and unsuitability at high frequencies limit the applicability of such systems [134].…”

Section: Bimetallic Micropumpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for Biomedical Applications

Chircov

Grumezescu

2022

“…As an important branch of MEMS, microfluidic actuation and control systems are widely used in drug delivery, biosensing, and electronics cooling due to its small size, low power consumption, high control precision, and fast response [4,5,6]. Generally speaking, microfluidic actuation methods include mechanical and non-mechanical modes, and the latter has the advantages of simple architecture due to no moving parts, ease of miniaturization and integration, flexible driving method, high reliability, and long service life [7,8,9]. As a result, unlike MEMS, the non-mechanical actuation mode has become popular in microfluidic systems [10,11,12,13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Analysis of a Microfluidic Pump Based on Combined Actuation of the Piezoelectric Effect and Liquid Crystal Backflow Effect

Guan

2019

A novel combined actuation method based on the piezoelectric effect and liquid crystal backflow effect is proposed in this paper. The coupling mechanism of a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) and liquid crystal (LC) in a combined driving mode is analyzed, and the governing equations of electromechanical coupling based on inverse piezoelectric effect and the classical Leslie–Ericksen backflow equation are modified under combined driving method. The new multifield coupling dynamic equations for numerical analysis is established. Experimentally, a sandwiched micropump was manufactured and sealed with wet etching technology on a glass wafer. A testing platform was built to analyze the particles motion and the flow rates were measured with both single PZT or LC actuation and combined actuation. Comparing the results of the numerical analysis and experimental testing of the flow rate and LC molecule motion under different driving voltages and frequencies, the performance of the PZT/LC combined driving is found to be superior to that of the single driving mode (PZT or LC driving) under the same driving conditions. Moreover, the new combined driving mode overcome the disadvantages of single driving mode and enhance the driving efficiency significantly. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The maximum flow rate of the micropump achieved was 4.494 μL/min with combined driving method.

“…Microfluidics is a technique for precise control and manipulation of micro-scale fluids especially under submicron structures [1,2]. As the “heart” of the microfluidic system, micropump plays a significant role in fluidic transport.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Self-Activated Mechanism for Stable Liquid Transportation Capable of Continuous-Flow and Real-time Microfluidic PCRs

Shi

et al. 2019

The self-activated micropump capable of velocity-stable transport for both single-phased plug and double-phased droplet through long flow distance inside 3D microchannel is one dream of microfluidic scientists. While several types of passive micropumps have been developed based on different actuation mechanisms, until today, it is still one bottleneck to realize such a satisfied self-activated micropump for the stable delivery of both single and double-phased liquid inside long microchannel (e.g., several meters), due to the lack of innovative mechanism in previous methods. To solve this problem, in this article, we propose a new self-activated pumping mechanism. Herein, an end-opened gas-impermeable quartz capillary is utilized for passive transport. Mechanism of this micropump is systemically studied by both the mathematical modeling and the experimental verifications. Based on the flow assays, it totally confirmed a different pumping principle in this paper, as compared with our previous works. The R 2 value of the overall flow rates inside the 3D microchannel is confirmed as high as 0.999, which is much more homogeneous than other passive pumping formats. Finally, this novel micropump is applied to continuous-flow real-time PCRs (both plug-type and microdroplet-type), with the amplification efficiency reaching 91.5% of the commercial PCR cycler instrument.