Recent trends in structures and applications of valveless piezoelectric pump—a review

Abstract

Abstract Piezoelectric actuator-driven valveless pump has been studied for a long time in theory and structure for the features of high precision, fast response, low power consumption, compact size, reliability for long-term use and high performance. The pump has a remarkable significance for drug delivery, biological application, chemical analysis, high precision gluing, solder paste, lubrication system and electronic chip cooling system, etc. However, a higher requirement on the control circuit and power supply for the pump is raised, also, the driving voltage of the pump should be further reduced. In this review, the piezoelectric pump with and without valve is analyzed in working principle. Then, the recent trends of valveless pump in different structures are discussed. The representative structural designs in different thinking are introduced in the working media, driven voltage, frequency, flow rate, pressure, and the efficiency of the pump, the performance of different pumps are also compared. Afterwards, the application of the pump for different purposes with featured structures are presented. Next are the limitations and the outlook of the pump, which provides some potential research points for subsequent studies, and ended with a summary. This review concludes the recent trends of valveless piezoelectric pump in structural and application, attempts to guide the researchers with different professional backgrounds that can solve current problems through cross-disciplinary approaches.