Low-power Piezoelectric Micropump Driving Module

Piezoelectric micropumps are often used in advanced microfluidic applications where an accurate pressure, flow control and monitoring are required. In applications where a small flow (nl/min range) is needed, they often represent the most appropriate solution due to their small size and low power consumption. In order to maximize the micropump flow-rate and backpressure performance, the piezoelectric actuator driving signal has to be adapted for a specific application, where appropriate signal amplitude and frequency have to be determined. To investigate the dependence of the flow-rate and backpressure on various driving signal parameters, a low-cost, miniature high-voltage piezoelectric micropump driving module is designed, fabricated and characterized. Implemented driver features low power consumption (max. 55 mA @ 12 V) and can achieve amplitudes of up to 250 V-PP in the 400 Hz frequency range.