MIcro Pump Systems and Processing Techniques

Abstract

Disclosed is a valve-less micro pump configuration that includes plural micro pump elements, each including a pump body having a compartmentalized pump chamber, with plural unobstructed inlet ports and outlet ports and a plurality of membranes disposed in the pump chamber to provide compartments. The membranes are anchored between opposing walls of the pump body and carry electrodes disposed on opposing surfaces of the membranes and walls of the pump body.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A micro pump comprising:
 a plurality of micro pump elements, each micro pump element comprising:
 a pump body having walls that enclose a pump chamber that is compartmentalized into plural compartments, a plurality of inlet ports each with unobstructed fluid ingress into corresponding ones of the plural compartments and a plurality of outlet ports each with unobstructed fluid egress from corresponding ones of the plural compartments; 
 a plurality of membranes disposed in the pump chamber, with the plurality of membranes affixed to the walls of the pump body, and which compartmentalized the chamber to provide the plural compartments; and 
 a plurality of electrodes, with a first pair of the plurality of electrodes disposed on a pair of opposing walls of the pump body, and each of the remaining ones of the plurality of electrodes disposed on a major surface of a corresponding one of the plurality of membranes; 
   with the plurality of micro pump elements arranged in a series connected configuration that has outlets of a first one of the plurality of micro pump elements fluidly connected to inlets of an immediately adjacent one of the plurality of micro pump elements.   
     
     
         2 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of micro pump elements includes an input element, a pump element and an output element. 
     
     
         3 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of micro pump elements are modularized micro pump elements. 
     
     
         4 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of micro pump elements includes a pair of end caps that together with the walls of the pump body formed the chamber. 
     
     
         5 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the inlet ports and outlet ports are on opposing walls of the pump body of each of the micro pump elements. 
     
     
         6 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the inlet ports and the outlet ports are on opposing walls of the pump body, the inlet ports of a first one of the micro pump elements configured to connect to a source of fluid and the outlet ports of a last one of the micro pump elements are configured to connect to a sink to store pressurized fluid from the micro pump. 
     
     
         7 . The micro pump of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a drive circuit to supply voltage signals to the plurality of electrodes, which voltage signals cause a first pair of adjacent membranes to deflect towards each other to obstruct fluid flow in a first corresponding compartment and a second pair of adjacent membranes to deflect away from each other to provide unobstructed fluid flow in a second, different corresponding compartment. 
 
     
     
         8 . The micro pump of  claim 1  further comprising:
 voltage driver circuitry to produce voltage signals that are fed to the plurality of electrodes; 
 with a first set of the voltage signals to cause in a first one of the plurality of micro pump elements, a first one of the plural compartments to compress and at least one adjacent one of the plural compartments to expand substantially simultaneously; and 
 with a second set of the voltage signals applied substantially simultaneously with the first set to cause in a second, adjacent one of the plurality of micro pump elements a first one of the plural compartments to expand and at least one adjacent one of the plural compartments to compress substantially simultaneously. 
 
     
     
         9 . The micro pump of  claim 1  further comprising:
 voltage driver circuitry to produce voltage signals that are fed to the plurality of electrodes according to a sequence. 
 
     
     
         10 . The micro pump of  claim 9  wherein the sequence is a peristaltic sequence. 
     
     
         11 . The micro pump of  claim 10  wherein the peristaltic sequence has six phases. 
     
     
         12 . The micro pump of  claim 11  wherein the six phases of the peristaltic sequence are for the plurality of micro pump elements consisting essentially of an input element, a pump element and an output element:
 011 
 001 
 101 
 100 
 110 
 010 
 
       with 0 corresponding to a first one of open or close of a compartment, 1 corresponding to a second, different one of open or close of a compartment and each of the phases having the values for respectively the input element, the pump element and the output element. 
     
     
         13 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the walls of the pump body have internal tapered edges within each of the respective compartments. 
     
     
         14 . The micro pump of  claim 13  wherein the tapered edges have a pair of tapers that are at a slope selected to make contact with corresponding one of the membranes when the membranes flex. 
     
     
         15 . The micro pump of  claim 13  wherein the tapered edge portions have a substantially equilateral triangular, solid shape. 
     
     
         16 . The micro pump of  claim 1  consisting essentially of three micro pump elements connected together in a series configuration, where outlets of a first micro pump element are fluidly connected to inlets of an adjacent, succeeding micro pump element. 
     
     
         17 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the micro pump is a valve-less micro pump. 
     
     
         18 . The micro pump of  claim 1  further comprising:
 voltage driver circuitry to produce voltage signals that are fed to the plurality of electrodes according to a selectable pair of first and second peristaltic sequences, with each of the first and second peristaltic sequences having six phases and each of the micro pump elements has plural compartments and for the plurality of micro pump elements consisting essentially of an input element, a pump element and an output element, respectively, the first peristaltic sequence is:
 011 
 001 
 101 
 100 
 110 
 010 
 
  and the second, different peristaltic sequence is:
 100 
 110 
 010 
 011 
 001 
 101 
 
 
       with “0” being a logic value corresponding to a first one of open or close of a compartment, “1” being a logic value corresponding to a second, different one of open or close of a compartment and each of the phases having the values for respectively the input element, the pump element and the output element. 
     
     
         19 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of micro pump elements arranged in the series connected configuration, with the outlets of the first micro pump element connected to the inlets of the immediately adjacent one of the plurality of micro pump elements, and with inlets of a second micro pump element connected to the outlets of the intermediate micro pump element, with outlets of the second micro pump element providing outlets of the micro pump. 
     
     
         20 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of micro pump elements is a first plurality of micro pump elements, and includes a second plurality of intermediate micro pump elements, with the first plurality of micro pump elements arranged in the series connected configuration, with the outlets of the first micro pump element coupled to the inlets of a first one of the second plurality of intermediate micro pump elements, and with the inlets of a second micro pump element connected to the outlets of a last one of the second plurality of intermediate micro pump elements, with the outlets of the second micro pump element providing outlets of the micro pump. 
     
     
         21 . The micro pump of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of micro pump elements includes an input element, a second plurality of pump elements, and an output element. 
     
     
         22 . The micro pump of  claim 21  wherein the first plurality of micro pump elements are modularized micro pump elements and each of the first plurality of micro pump elements includes a pair of end caps that together with the walls of the pump body formed the chamber. 
     
     
         23 . A method comprises:
 connecting a plurality of valve-less micro pump elements in a series configuration with outlets of a first one of the plurality of micro pump elements being fluidly connected to inlets of an immediately adjacent one of the plurality of micro pump elements;   driving each the micro pump elements according to a first peristaltic sequence in a first mode of operation, with the first one of the plurality of micro pump elements having a port that is an inlet port of the series configuration, and a last one of the plurality of micro pump elements having a port that is an outlet port of the series configuration; and   dynamically changing functions of the input port and output port of the series configuration, by driving the micro pump elements according to a second, different peristaltic sequence for a second, different mode of operation, with the port of the first one of the plurality of micro pump being the outlet port of the series configuration, and the port of the last one of the plurality of micro pump elements being the inlet port of the series configuration.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23  wherein the first and second peristaltic sequences each have six phases and each of the micro pump elements has plural compartments and for the plurality of micro pump elements consisting essentially of an input element, a pump element and an output element, respectively, the first peristaltic sequence is:
 011 
 001 
 101 
 100 
 110 
 010 
 
       and the second, different peristaltic sequence is:
 100 
 110 
 010 
 011 
 001 
 101 
 
       with “0” being a logic value corresponding to a first one of open or close of a compartment, “1” being a logic value corresponding to a second, different one of open or close of a compartment and each of the phases having the values for respectively the input element, the pump element and the output element.