Experimental Studies on Micropumps Using Rotational/Reciprocating Motions of Magnetic Material Balls

In application of micropumps to new fields in chemistry, biology, medical science and others, smaller sizes are supposed to be important rather than higher pump performance. In this study, considering from such a view point, micropumps using rotational and reciprocating motions of magnetic material balls were proposed and studied experimentally. The pump performance, i.e. the relation between flow rate and pump head are measured from liquid level changes in two containers connected to the inlet and outlet of the micropump. For the rotational motion micropump, while the maximum flow rate obtained, ~2 mL/min, is large enough as a micropump, the maximum pump head achieved, ~15 mm, is small even for a micropump. It is desirable to increase the pump head furthermore for this micropump. For the reciprocating motion micropump, the maximum flow rate obtained and the maximum pump head achieved are ~7.5 mL/min and ~625 mm, respectively. These values of the pump performance are sufficient as a micropump. Both the micropumps can be incorporated into microfluidic devices (tips) and can pump arbitrary kind of liquid.