Study on a piezoelectric micropump for the controlled drug delivery system

Abstract

We present the design of a new controlled drug delivery system potential for in vitro injection of diabetics. The system incorporates some integrated circuit units and microelectromechanical system devices, such as micropump, microneedle array and microsensor. Its goal is to achieve safer and more effective drug delivery. Moreover, a valveless micropump excited by the piezoelectric actuator is designed for the drug delivery system, and a simple fabrication process is proposed. A dynamic model is developed for the valveless micropump based upon the mass conservation. To characterize the micropump, a complete electro-solid-fluid coupling model, including the diffuser/nozzle element and the piezoelectric actuator, is built using the ANSYS software. The simulation results show that the performance of micropump is in direct proportion to the stroke volume of the pump membrane and there is an optimal thickness of the piezoelectric membrane under the 500 V/mm electric field. Based on this simulation model, the effects of several important parameters such as excitation voltage, excitation frequency, pump membrane dimension, piezoelectric membrane dimension and mechanical properties on the characteristics of valveless micropump have been investigated.

Recent advances in microscale pumping technologies: a review and evaluation

“…Valves take many forms and can feature passive or active control. Although a relatively older concept, nozzle-diffuser type fixedgeometry valves have been investigated in the recent past for specific applications such as drug delivery as they employ no moving parts (Cui et al 2007). Piezoelectrically actuated pumps have become common as they can be fabricated relatively inexpensively, especially when using low-cost, deformable materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) (Kim et al 2005b).…”

A global assessment of piezoelectric actuated micro-pumps

“…Here, it is important to consider the viscosity of the fluid. [16,17] propose a modal analysis of the piezoelectric transducer to establish the frequency at which the maximum stroke volume is obtained.…”

“…[22] reveals a device conceived for fuel dosing in automobile heaters with the particularity of having a micro filtering system embedded at the inlet. [17] moves to the field of medicine and proposes a micro-pump applied on an in vitro injection system for diabetics. The author highlights the possibility of pumping gases and liquids, high reliability and low sensitivity of drug particles due to the lack of a moving valve.…”

An Efficiency improved diffuser with extended sidewall for application in valveless micropump

“…Some of these have focused on different actuation mechanisms, utilising lead zirconium titanate (PZT) [4][5][6], ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) [7][8][9], acoustics [10] and thermopneumatics [11,12]. There are also many studies that have investigated the flow-rectifying capability of the diffuser/ Abstract A diffuser/nozzle pair serves as a flow rectifying element in a valveless micropump, which is one key component in microfluidics devices.…”