Travelling wave magnetic valveless micropump driven by rotating integrated magnetic arrays

A novel magnetic valveless micropump is proposed for microfluidic applications. Two integrated NdFeB permanent magnetic arrays were used to generate a travelling wave on the top wall of the elastic microchannel, and then the liquid particles were transported along with the travelling wave in the microchannel. The characteristics tested at different frequencies demonstrate that the magnetic micropump has a much higher driving efficiency than the piezoelectric micropump with the same saw-toothed microchannel. By using a low power supply (3.7 V V_p-p, 185 mW), the magnetic micropump significantly improves the maximum flow rate and back pressure to 184.25 μl/min and 1.28 kPa with the microchannel of 200 μm width.