A Valveless Piezoelectric Micropump Based on Projection Micro Litho Stereo Exposure Technology

At present, the micropumps are usually adopted in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) process, which is characterized by high technical complexity and expense, to obtain micro-scale internal channels. Moreover, the MEMS process is more suitable for the 2.5-dimensional channels. This paper presents a 3-dimensional vortex tube-based valveless piezoelectric micropump with low cost and high accuracy, and the projection micro litho stereo exposure (PμLSE) technology is applied to manufacture the prototype of the micropump. The working principle of the piezoelectric micropump is analyzed, and the flow resistance of the vortex diode is calculated numerically. Then, the performance and 3D morphology measurement of the micropump are conducted. The results demonstrate that the inner surface of the channel is uniform and the surface roughness is small. By comparing and analyzing the output performances between two prototypes manufactured by the PμLSE technology, the stability of the PμLSE technology is confirmed. This paper provides a fast and cheap method for manufacturing a 3D micropump, and the proposed approach can also be further adopted in fabricating such micro-stereoscopic structure devices.