Silent Pumpers: A Comparative Topical Overview of the Peristaltic Pumping Principle in Living Nature, Engineering, and Biomimetics

• Published in: Advanced intelligent systems 2019-06, Vol.1 (2), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Esser, Falk, Masselter, Tom, Speck, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biomimetics; peristalsis; peristaltic pumping systems; silent pumping mechanism; soft-robotic devices
• ISSN: 2640-4567; 2640-4567
• DOI: 10.1002/aisy.201900009

This synopsis presents the state‐of‐the‐art of peristaltic pump systems in biomimetics and living nature, and allows for a comparison by highlighting the differences in structure and function, as well as advantages and drawbacks for technical implementation. For the first time, data of selected biological examples are collected in one study to give a comprehensive overview of the performance of biological peristaltic pumps. The developed biomimetic pumping systems not only mimic the biological principle and by this inherit its advantages, but also show the usability of the principle in various pumping applications and medical research. A direct comparison of peristaltic pump systems in nature, biomimetics, and technology highlights their similarities, differences, and allows for proposing new fields of application. A topical overview about the current state‐of‐the‐art peristaltic pumping systems of nature, techniques, and biomimetics is given. For the first time, pump performance data of natural peristaltic pumping systems are presented as a compendium for future work. For comparison of the natural systems to technical as well as biomimetic soft‐robotic pumping systems, a flow coefficient is used.