A PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN STEREOLITHOGRAPHY-FABRICATED MICROPUMP

The design and fabrication of hydraulic microcomponents obtained by st ereolithography are proposed in this paper. A piezoelectric micropump and microchannels have been fabricated and tested extensively. The pum p body and the microchannels are made out of ultraviolet-photocurable polymer material and manufactured by a single stereolithographic proce ss. Stereolithography has been selected since it allows the microfabri cation of three-dimensional structures of any complex shape, even inco rporating 'integral' movable parts that may require no assembly. The d esign of the pump body and the flow channels has been based on optimum hydraulic criteria, and aimed to obtain long life and quick, cheap an d easy manufacturing. Design rules have been studied in order to obtai n hydraulic components with specific behaviours (flow rate, head, loss and charge). The paper describes the finite-element analysis of the t hin plate pumping element and of the actuator, as well as the fabricat ion and experimental performance of the pump. Experimental results sho w good agreement with theoretical prediction obtained by simulation, a nd Values of flow rate and discharge head that are among the highest r eported in the literature for pumps for similar size and working princ iples.