Flow behavior of liquid-solid coupled system of piezoelectric micropump

Abstract

This paper employs a shallow water model and the finite element method to approximate periodical flows of a micropump to a two-dimensional thickness-averaged flow. A liquid-solid coupled system equation of the micropump is presented. Through the mode analysis of the liquid-solid coupled system, the first-order natural frequency, diaphragm vibration shape and amplitude-frequency relationship are obtained. The vibration response of the diaphragm is calculated when an external electric field is applied. Based on the thickness-averaged flow equation, the periodical flow of the micropump is studied using the finite volume method to investigate the flow behavior and flow rate-frequency characteristics. Numerical results indicate that an optimal working frequency can be obtained, at which the flow rate of the micropump achieves the maximum when the external electric voltage is fixed.

Keywords

micropump, liquid-solid coupled system, shallow water model