Development of an inertial piezoelectric pump with separable chamber

Abstract

This paper presents an inertial pump with rectangular piezoelectric actuators. The mass block adhered at the free end of the actuator increases the actuator deformation, and the pump chamber is separable. Theoretical and experimental analyses are conducted. The different drive modes with the mass block, different excitation electric signals, and their influence on the performance of the piezoelectric pump are investigated. The drive mode is divided into the mass block adhered with two rectangular piezoelectric actuators, one of the actuators, and actuators without mass blocks. The square wave, sine wave, and triangle wave constitute different excitation electric signals. The experimental results prove that the pump with the mass block adhered with two rectangular piezoelectric actuators and driven by the square wave has a wide working frequency range and high performance. The highest flow rate reached is 72 ml/min at 160 V, 20 Hz. The pump with the mass block adhered with one of the actuators and driven by the square wave generates the loudest noise of 97.6 dB at 160 V, 35 Hz.