A novel design technique for IPMC diaphragm in micropump application

Micropumps have gained a great potential to be applied as biomedical devices and micro systems. Because of low driven voltage, flexible operation, and self sensing ability, the ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) material has been used as diaphragm of micropumps. This paper presents a novel design technique of IPMC diaphragm with numerical results about deformation capabilities and makes the design process of IPMC diaphragm be more convenient. The technique starts from a physical induced stress model of IPMC actuators, where the induced stress information inside the IPMC can be obtained corresponding to the input voltage signal. The induced stress model is achieved by solving the partial differential equation (PDE) of charging density along the IPMC thickness. Next, the induced stress information is imported into the ANSYS finite element model as deforming mechanism. Via ANSYS environment, the deformation of IPMC actuator can be visually analyzed. Using this technique, a novel design of IPMC diaphragm is then investigated and the optimized design of IPMC diaphragm for micropump is obtained.