Mechanical design and performance analyses of a rubber-based peristaltic micro-dosing pump

Low pressure fluid transport (1) applications often require low and precise volumetric flow rates (2) including low leakage to reduce additional costly and complex sensors. A peristaltic pump design (3) was realized, with the fluid’s flexible transport channel formed by a solid cavity and a wobbling plate comprising a rigid and a soft layer (4). In operation, the wobbling plate is driven externally by an electric motor, hence, the soft layer is contracted and unloaded (5) during pump-cycles transporting fluid from low to high pressure sides. A thorough characterization of the pump system is required to design and dimension the components of the peristaltic pump. To capture all these parameters and their dependencies on various operation-states, often complex and long-lasting dynamic 3D FE-simulations are required. We present, here, a holistic design methodology (6) including analytical as well as numerical calculations, and experimental validations for a peristaltic pump with certain specifications of flow-rate range, maximum pressures, and temperatures. An experimental material selection process is established and material data of candidate materials (7) (liquid silicone rubber, acrylonitrile rubber, thermoplastic-elastomer) are directly applied to predict the required drive torque. For the prediction, a semi-physical, analytical model was derived and validated by characterizing the pump prototype.