Development of a novel electromagnetic double action meso-scale pump

This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of a meso-scale electromechanical fluid pump. A prototype was designed and fabricated using Polycarbonate for the housings and controlled by sequential pulsing of channel piston and valve coils. The pumping concept is based on reciprocating a hard magnet acting as a piston in a circular channel, and synchronizing this movement with two electromagnetically actuated valves located at the pump inlet and outlet ports. The pumping system is programmed to allow simultaneous energization of a set of coils that control the magnet positions. Each pump port has an inlet and outlet channel. According to the piston movement direction, i. e. clockwise or counter clockwise, the valve will change its position to allow for inflow or outflow. The pump concept was tested on a meso-scale setup for pumping water. Tests showed that a magnet rotational speed of 70 strokes per minute is achievable. A flow rate of 6.1 ml/min and a pressure of 400 Pa were obtained at this speed