Experimental Study on a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Valveless Micropump Actuated by a Laser-induced Shock Wave
L-C. Xiong, P. Chen, J-C. Xia and Q-S. Zhou
This paper proposes a novel micropump driving mode, called the laser-induced shock wave, which has the advantages of remote control, high energy utilization and wireless energy supply and no electromagnetic interference. Given this new driving mode, a new manufacturing method of valveless micropump is presented that uses the material polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. This method carries the merits of high reliability, high efficiency and high success ratio. Moreover, some experiments were manipulated to show the feasibility of the new driving mode and the characteristic of the valveless micropump fabricated though the new manufacturing process. The results demonstrate that the new driving mode is feasible and the performance of the valveless micropump is satisfactory.
Keywords: Laser-induced shock wave, laser shock processing, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), valveless micropump, driving mode, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), manufacturing method