Abstract
This paper presents a microfluidic pump operated by an asymmetrically deformed membrane, which was inspired by caterpillar locomotion. Almost all mechanical micropumps consist of two major components of fluid halting and fluid pushing parts, whereas the proposed caterpillar locomotion-inspired micropump has only a single, bilaterally symmetric membrane-like teardrop shape. A teardrop-shaped elastomeric membrane was asymmetrically deformed and then consecutively touched down to the bottom of the chamber in response to pneumatic pressure, thus achieving fluid pushing. Consecutive touchdown motions of the teardrop-shaped membrane mimicked the propagation of a caterpillar's hump during its locomotory gait. The initial touchdown motion of the teardrop-shaped membrane at the centroid worked as a valve that blocked the inlet channel, and then, the consecutive touchdown motions pushed fluid in the chamber toward the tail of the chamber connected to the outlet channel. The propagation of the touchdown motion of the teardrop-shaped membrane was investigated using computational analysis as well as experimental studies. This caterpillar locomotion-inspired micropump composed of only a single membrane can provide new opportunities for simple integration of microfluidic systems. © the Partner Organisations 2014.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2240-2248 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Lab on a Chip |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 13 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Pioneer Research Center Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2012-0009575), and was also supported by the Human Resources Development program (no. 20134030200240) of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. This work was also partially supported by the KAUST Global Collaborative Research (GCR) under the Academic Excellence Alliance and Partnership Program.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.