A rotary ferrofluidic vane micropump with C shape baffle

Abstract This paper presents a prototype design, fabrication and characterization of a rotary ferrofluidic vane micropump with C shape baffle. The new ferrofluid micropump mainly consists of a glass substrate, a PDMS chip and some ferrofluid actuated with an external permanent magnet. The ferrofluid in the microchamber is used as a rotary vane to pump the working fluid. The combination of the ferrofluid and the novel C shape baffle in the microchamber served as a valve to stop the reverse flow between the inlet and the outlet. The volumetric flow rate and the backpressure were characterized with different actuation speeds. The maximum pumping flow rate is about 49.32 μL/min and the maximum backpressure is about 1125.9 Pa. The advantages are that the fewer components in the micropump not only reduce the complex of the fabrication process and the cost, but also improve the reliability of the micropump. The proposed ferrofluid micropump can be easily integrated with other PDMS-glass-based microfluidic system and can also be used in many applications when microfluidic systems need to be disposable and low cost.