An Experimental Study on the Performance Characteristics of the Serial Micro Gas Compressors

The micro gas compressor was designed and fabricated on three silicon layers with a silicon membrane, compression chamber and cantilever check valves. The working fluid R-123 is driven by a piezoelectric actuator, which is attached on the silicon membrane. Furthermore, the comparison of the performance with one micro gas compressor and that with two serial micro gas compressors havs been done for various parameters, which are the back pressure, input voltages and vibrating frequencies applied to the PZT actuator. The performance curves mainly depend on the voltage rather than the frequency, because the higher voltage causes the larger stroke volume, eventually brings about a higher stroke ratio. Consequently, the voltage should be kept high for a robust operation. In the process of the single compression, the largest flow rate is 0.98 g/hr and the highest discharge to suction pressure ratio is 1.17. Additionally, in the case of the serial compressors, the former is 0.74 g/hr and the later is 1.30, which means pressure ratio becomes higher in the two stage compression processes while the mass flow rate decreases a little.