imsolidstate

Piezo pump

Some time ago I designed a piezo pump to demonstrate a concept for an extremely low flow liquid slurry pumping application. The pump was based around AdaptivEnergy’s Ruggedized Laminated Piezo actuator, or RLP-125. AdaptivEnergy also manufactures the Joule-Thief, which is also based on piezo technology. The actuator was driven by the company’s proprietary electronics that they call the Energy Key. I used umbrella valves from Vernay that allow the pump to build pressure and move fluid.

The pump works very well for extremely low flow liquid and slurry applications. The wetted parts of the actuator are 300 series stainless steel, and the valves and housing can be made of a number of materials for resistance to many fluids. This pump design is a great selection particularly if you are moving an abrasive slurry, as there are less contact wear surfaces like in a more conventional pump.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this pump is that both the frequency and displacement of the element can be varied. This allows the pump to operate at different resonant frequencies for different fluids, and still accurately control flow.

Here is a 3D section view of the model that I made in Solidworks.

Tags: AdaptivEnergy, Piezo, Pump, Solidworks