A novel non-invasive implementation of pumping mechanism in pre-existing capillary

In this paper a novel pumping strategy, based on the use of a single drop of ferrofluid as the active mass and an analog driving system, is presented. The absence of mechanical moving parts and solid-inertial masses provides high reliability and the possibility to implement the pumping mechanism on pre-existing channels. Experiments dedicated to estimate the average amount of pumped liquid, the drop pressure and the capacity as function of frequency and amplitude of the driving signals, have been performed. Other measures to estimate the average amount of pumped liquid and the maximum drop pressure for a different size of the outlet tank and the amount of pumped liquid in vacuum, are achieved.