Headway Group Of Research

Volume 11 Issue 2

The Design, Fabrication, and Testing of an Electromagnetic Micropump with a Matrix-Patterned Magnetic Polymer Composite Actuator Membrane

Muzalifah Mohd Said, Jumril Yunas, Badariah Bais, Azrul Azlan Hamzah and Burhanuddin Yeop Majlis

1
Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (IMEN), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2Faculty of Electronics and Computer Engineering (FKEKK), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia
3Dept. of Electrical Electronic and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract

A valveless electromagnetic (EM) micropump with a matrix-patterned magnetic polymer composite actuator membrane structure was successfully designed and fabricated. The composite membrane structure is made of polydemethylsiloxane (PDMS) that is mixed with magnetic particles and patterned in matrix blocks. The matrix magnetic composite membrane was fabricated using a soft lithography process and expected to have a compact structure having sufficient magnetic force for membrane deformation and maintained membrane flexibility. The magnetic membrane was integrated with the microfluidic system and functionally tested. The experimental results show that a magnetic composite actuator membrane containing of 6% NdFeB is capable of producing a maximum membrane deflection up to 12.87 µm. The functionality test of the EM actuator for fluid pumping resulted in an extremely low sample injection flow rate of approximately 6.523 nL/min. It was also concluded that there is a correlation between the matrix structure of the actuator membrane and the fluid pumping flow rate. The injection flow rate of the EM micropump can be controlled by adjusting the input power supplied to the EM coil, and this is believed to improve the injection accuracy of the drug dosage and have potential in improving the proficiency of the existing drug delivery system.
Keywords:valveless electromagnetic (EM) micropump; polydemethylsiloxane (PDMS); NdFeB; polymer composite membrane; magnetic actuator; drug delivery
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