Drug Particle Delivery Investigation Through a Valveless Micropump

• Published in: Journal of microelectromechanical systems 2010-12, Vol.19 (6), p.1390-1399
• Main Authors: Guoguang Su, Pidaparti, R M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actuation; Actuators; Applied fluid mechanics; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Computation; Computational modeling; computations; Computer simulation; Design engineering; Drug delivery; Drugs; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fluidics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); General pharmacology; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Mechanical engineering. Machine design; Mechanical instruments, equipment and techniques; Medical sciences; Microfluidics; Micromechanical devices and systems; Micropumps; particles; Pharmaceutical technology. Pharmaceutical industry; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Physics; Precision engineering, watch making; Simulation; Transport; Transporting
• ISSN: 1057-7157; 1941-0158
• DOI: 10.1109/JMEMS.2010.2082502

Micropumps with various types of actuations are being used in microfluidic transport for liquid drug delivery. Due to the complexity of the flow field, particle transport through a valveless micropump might be challenging in comparison to a pressure-driven flow micropumps. In order to better understand and develop an optimized design for the delivery of drug particles through valveless micropumps, computational simulations may be necessary. In this paper, the transport of drug particles through the valveless micropump is simulated through 3-D computational fluid dynamics combined with discrete particle transport methods. After computational validation, the effects of actuation frequency, particle size, and transporting style on the particle transport are investigated. Both the actuation frequency and transporting pattern have a strong relationship in terms of resident times and the spatial distribution of the transported particles through the designed micropump. The computational analysis results presented demonstrate that it is possible to optimize the proposed valveless micropump design through numerical simulations for specific delivery of drug particles.