Low cost metal micro-pump for drug delivery

Abstract

The design, fabrication and characterization of a micro-pump for drug delivery are presented in this paper. A low cost metallic micro-pump capable of handling low fluid volumes and having the potential for applications in drug delivery is described. The pump is of the reciprocating displacement type and is driven by a piezoelectric diaphragm actuator. The main parts of the pump are made of stainless steel and can be readily fabricated using precision casting technology. The check valves are made from a polyamide membrane using photolithography. Equations presented in this report are useful for predicting the behavior of the actuation unit as well as the valve unit. Based on the analysis, a prototype of the micro-pump is designed and fabricated, from which a maximum pump rate of 255 ul/min for water was achieved.