CFD Simulations of Flows in Valveless Micropumps

In this paper, we numerically simulated 3-dimensional transient flows in valveless micropumps, which are of a diameter of 6 mm and are driven by sine-wave voltage at frequencies from 8 to 500 Hz. The numerical simulations were conducted to study electro-mechanical coupling and fluid-structural interaction. From the simulations, we obtained the flow fields inside the flow path, as well as deformations and stress distributions of the structure. Based on the numerical results, we improved our design of micropumps and developed a new micropump model with much better working performance. In addition to mechanical design, performance charters for the micropump were generated with the use of CFD tools. The present study shows that 3-dimensional transient CFD simulations can be used for predicting the performance of micropump working at a low actuating frequency.