Development of a High-Pressure Self-Priming Valve-Based Piezoelectric Pump Using Bending Transducers

In this article, a valve-based piezoelectric pump operated by three bending transducers is proposed. The major features of the proposed pump are self-priming and high pressure. The structure and the operation principle of the proposed pump are presented and analyzed in detail. The output displacement of the transducer can be obtained by the Timoshenko beam theory; on this basis, the flowrate and pressure models of the pump are established based on gap flow theory and the extended Bernoulli equation. A prototype of the pump is fabricated, and the experimental system is established. The results indicate that the maximum output flowrate is 58.6 mL/min under the frequency of 160 Hz; the maximum output pressure is 28.7 kPa at the frequency of 180 Hz, and the maximum output power is 6 mW at the backpressure of 12.5 kPa. Besides, the self-priming of the pump is 10.7 kPa; thus, there is no need to fill the pump during the working process, which can bring a convenience to the operation of the pump.