Miniaturized Diaphragm Pump Additive Manufacturing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for manufacturing miniaturized diaphragm vacuum pumps, such as microfabrication, result in high dead volume ratios, limited pressure generation, and high costs, making them unsuitable for low-cost applications and prototyping due to hydraulic resistances, valve leak rates, and the need for single-material fabrication.
Innovation Solution
The use of additive manufacturing techniques to create multi-material, miniaturized diaphragm pumps with varying stiffness components, including a compression chamber, valves, and a diaphragm, allowing for improved performance and longevity by reducing dead volume and enabling the use of multiple materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If microfabrication is used to manufacture miniaturized diaphragm pumps, then the pumps can be produced with precise dimensions, but the dead volume to total pump volume ratio becomes significant (twenty percent or greater), leading to pressure drops that limit vacuum generation capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the pump components, specifically optimizing the compression chamber volume, channel dimensions, and diaphragm displacement to minimize dead volume while maintaining manufacturability through microfabrication processes
Solution Approach 2:
The pump is divided into distinct functional segments including the compression chamber, intake channel, exhaust channel, and diaphragm assembly, allowing each component to be optimized independently for performance while maintaining overall integration
2Manufacturing precision
If microfabrication is used to manufacture miniaturized diaphragm pumps, then the pumps can be produced with controlled features, but the hydraulic resistance becomes large, resulting in undesirable flow rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs curved channel designs and rounded corners throughout the fluid pathways to reduce flow separation and turbulence, thereby minimizing hydraulic resistance while maintaining the microfabricated structure
Solution Approach 2:
The channel cross-sectional area, length, and curvature radius are optimized to balance hydraulic resistance against the miniaturized scale, ensuring adequate flow rates are achieved despite the small dimensions
3Manufacturing precision
If microfabrication is used to manufacture miniaturized diaphragm pumps, then the pumps can be produced with precise geometries, but the valve leak rate becomes significant, impacting pump performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible diaphragm as a valve mechanism that can conform to the valve seat geometry, creating effective seals through elastic deformation rather than relying solely on rigid precision mating surfaces
Solution Approach 2:
The diaphragm thickness, material elasticity, and valve seat geometry are optimized to ensure adequate sealing force is generated during the compression stroke while maintaining the microfabricated structure
4Manufacturing precision
If microfabrication is used to manufacture miniaturized diaphragm pumps, then the pumps can be produced with controlled features, but the manufacturing cost and time increase, making them incompatible with low-cost applications and prototyping
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple pump components including the body, channels, valves, and diaphragm into a single monolithic structure fabricated through one microfabrication process, eliminating the need for separate manufacturing steps and assembly operations
5Ease of manufacture
If single-material fabrication is used in other printing techniques, then the device can be manufactured with simpler processes, but the ability to create devices with multiple materials including monolithically integrated actuators is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs multi-material additive manufacturing to create regions with different material properties within the same pump structure, including flexible regions for diaphragm movement and rigid regions for structural support, all in a single fabrication process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The approach results in pumps with enhanced flow rates and pressure ratios, reduced dead volume, and increased longevity, making them suitable for low-cost applications and prototyping while maintaining leak-tightness and efficient vacuum generation.
Implementation Method 1
positive displacement pumps, which exploit gas compressibility to create and maintain vacuum
Implementation Method 2
use active and/or passive valves to compress pockets of gas at low pressure to higher, e.g., atmospheric, pressure using a variable volume, i.e., compression chamber
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for manufacturing miniaturized diaphragm pumps using additive manufacturing techniques, such as polyjet printing, are provided, as are the pumps and systems that result from using such techniques to produce the pumps. The provided pumps include a compression chamber that has a first surface, a second opposed surface, and a conical outer wall that extends between the first surface and the second surface and that has a bowed configuration in which the outer wall has a generally concave shape. A diaphragm is disposed proximate to the compression chamber, and the pump also includes one or more valves that control the flow of fluid between the compression chamber and one more fluid ports. Fluid can be selectively vacuumed into and exhausted out of the compression chambers. Various manufacturing techniques for fabricating the pumps are also provided.