Modeling and Simulation of a Low Voltage Electroosmotic Micropump for Non-Newtonian Fluids

Abstract

Non-mechanical micropumps, which do not require moving parts, have prominent role in several biomedical microsystems such as drug delivery, and lab-on-a-chip. Electroosmotic micropump is a non-mechanical micropump which can pump working fluids with wide range of electrical conductivity by the application of an electrical field across a channel. In this study, a low voltage electroosmotic micropump with blood as the working fluid is modeled and simulated. In addition, the effect of changing the depth (D) and the length (L) of the electroosmotic micropump on the free flow velocity and the pressure drop of the fluid are examined to assist in designing a low voltage electroosmotic micropump for blood transport. As a result, a 20V electroosmotic micropump with depth of 50 $\mu \mathrm{m}$, length 100 $\mu {\mathrm {m}}$ and width of 1 mm is designed which provides a flow rate of ${\mathrm {42\mu L/m\dot{m}}}$ and a static pressure of 14 Pa.