Valveless thermally-driven phase-change micropump

A dynamic model with moving heat sources was developed to analyze the pumping mechanism of a valveless thermally-driven phase-change micropump. The coupled equations were solved to determine the pumping characteristics. The numerical results agree with experimental data from micropumps with different diameter microtubes. The maximum flow rate reached 33 μL / min and the maximum pump pressure was over 20 kPa for a 200-μm diameter microtube. Analysis of the pumping mechanism shows that the main factors affecting the flow come from the large density difference between the liquid and vapor phases and the choking effect of the vapor region.