A micropump driven by continuous electrowetting actuation for low voltage and low power operations

Author

Kwang-Seok Yun ; Il-Joo Cho ; Jong-Uk Bu ; Geun-Ho Kim ; Young-Sam Jeon ; Chang-Jin Kim ; Yoon, E.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Korea Adv. Inst. of Sci. & Technol., Taejon, South Korea

fYear

2001

fDate

25-25 Jan. 2001

Firstpage

487

Lastpage

490

Abstract

In this paper we first report a micropump actuated by continuous electrowetting (CEW). We have used the surface-tension-induced motion of a mercury drop in the microchannel filled with an electrolyte as actuation energy. We have fabricated the CEW actuator, silicone rubber pumping membranes and copper flap check valves, and have demonstrated actual liquid pumping up to 63 /spl mu/l/min at the applied voltage of 2.3 Vpp. The maximum pump pressure is about 600 Pa at the applied voltage of 2.3 Vpp with operation frequency of 10 Hz.

Keywords

low-power electronics; microactuators; micropumps; 10 Hz; 2.3 V; 600 Pa; actuation energy; applied voltage; check valves; continuous electrowetting actuation; liquid pumping; low power operation; microchannel; micropump; pump pressure; silicone rubber pumping membranes; surface-tension-induced motion; Biomembranes; Chemical analysis; Electrodes; Low voltage; Microchannel; Micropumps; Rubber; Silicon; Surface tension; Valves;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2001. MEMS 2001. The 14th IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Interlaken, Switzerland

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5998-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2001.906585

Filename

906585