953

Design and development of a modular valveless

micropump on a printed circuit board for integrated
electronic cooling
P Verma1 , D Chatterjee2∗ , and T Nagarajan1,3
1
Precision Engineering and Instrumentation Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
2
Hydroturbomachines Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai, India
3
Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia

The manuscript was received on 5 August 2008 and was accepted after revision for publication on 2 October 2008.
DOI: 10.1243/09544062JMES1315

Abstract: With constraints on size, cost, reliability, and performance for liquid-based cooling sys-
tems, the design of modular micropumps suitable for an integrated thermal management system
still remains a challenge. In this paper, the effectiveness of a low-cost valveless micropump–heat
exchanger on a printed circuit board is investigated for electronic cooling. Signal conditioning
and control electronics are integrated with the fluidic components on the substrate to form a
compact modular unit. Piezoelectric actuation and conical diffusers are utilized to generate pul-
sating flow through a minichannel heat sink. With ethanol as the working fluid, the tested pump
reached a maximum flowrate and a pressure head of 2.4 ml/min and 743 Pa at an input voltage of
6 VDC . Suitability of the system for active real-time temperature control has been demonstrated
at two input heater power levels of 1.45 and 2.5 W. A maximum reduction of 57 per cent in the
average heat sink surface temperature could be achieved at a maximum power consumption of
150 mW by the micropump.

Keywords: modular, valveless micropump, piezoelectric, printed circuit board, integrated

cooling, heat sink

1 INTRODUCTION
Thermal management at chip and component level
has emerged as one of the most critical issues for fur-
ther development of temperature-sensitive electronic
devices and systems. Natural and forced air convec-
tion heat sinks used for cooling electronics on single-
and multi-chip printed circuit boards (PCBs) are fast
reaching their limit in terms of performance and size.
A number of approaches such as spray cooling, micro-
jets, and thin-film evaporation have been proposed,
∗ Corresponding author: Department of Mechanical Engineer-
ing, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Hydroturbo-
machine Laboratory, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600036, India. email:
dhiman@iitm.ac.in
but noise, cost, and efficiency are still areas of con-
cern for practical implementation [1]. Liquid-cooled
microchannel heat sinks have been shown to be one
of the more promising solutions for very high heat dis-
sipation in future space-constrained microelectronic
systems [2].
In a typical forced convective liquid cooling loop,
heat is picked up by the coolant from the pri-
mary heat exchanger mounted on electronic chip
and rejected through a secondary liquid to an air–
eliquid heat exchanger, with a pump providing the
necessary driving force [3]. A number of studies have
been performed during the past decade to miniatur-
ize this cooling loop and optimize its performance.
Experimental and theoretical studies on single- and
two-phase fluid flow through microchannel heat
exchangers have shown that heat fluxes on the order

JMES1315 © IMechE 2009 Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
954 P Verma, D Chatterjee, and T Nagarajan
of kW/cm2 can be dissipated [4, 5]. Microchannel
flow geometry offers a very large surface area to vol-
ume ratio, thereby enabling high heat transfer rate.
However, it has been hard to implement in commer-
cial applications, due to the associated penalty of a
high drop in pressure. Constraints on size, weight,
and power requirement for conventional macroscale
pumps render them unsuitable for miniaturization
and integration, especially in a portable cooling loop.
With advances in microfluidics technology, an out-
standing diversity in micropumping principles and
mechanisms has been proposed [6, 7]. A review of
the state of the art in micropumping techniques
with an emphasis on microchannel cooling systems
has been compiled by Singhal et al. [8]. Reciprocat-
ing diaphragm, flexural plate wave, electro-osmotic
and electrohydrodynamic principles were identified
as having significant potential for integration with
the heat exchanger. Recently, micropumps mono-
lithically integrated within microchannels have been
demonstrated [9–11]. Since the pump shares the same
footprint as the channels, a considerable reduction
in the overall system size is obtained. With important
technologies for assembly, interconnection, and hous-
ing being still explored for a practical micropump–heat
exchanger unit, the need for portable, low-cost, and
low-power consuming micropumps, suitable for sys-
tem integration, is apparent. Reciprocating diaphragm
micropumps with valveless designs are good candi-
dates due to their amenability to miniaturization and
absence of any internal moving parts. Moreover, a
broad range in pumping fluids, actuators, substrate
materials, and fabrication technologies are available.
Stemme and Stemme [12] presented the first pro-
totype valveless micropump in brass utilizing piezo-
electric actuation and conical converging/diverging
channels to deliver a pulsatile flow. The principle of
variable resistance to fluid flow in opposite directions
in the conduit was utilized to direct the fluid flow from
inlet to outlet. Spatial and planar designs with pyrami-
dal [13], Tesla valve [14], and enhanced vortex-shaped
flow channels [15] have been presented as alternate
forms for valveless pumping. The mature state of sili-
con micromachining has provided further impetus
and several planar valveless micropumps have been
fabricated using isotropic etching [16], anisotropic
etching [17], and deep reactive ion etching [18]. Due
to the high cost involved in mask making, clean room
processes, and packaging required for silicon-based
micropumps [19], alternate fabrication technologies
have been explored. Thermoplastic replication [20],
numerically controlled machining [21], powder blast-
ing [22], and PCB [23, 24] techniques have been shown
as low-cost solutions for small-scale fabrication of
valveless micropumps. Among these technologies,
PCB technology allows hybrid integration of elec-
tronic and fluidic components on a common substrate
and is economically favourable for a portable thermal
Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
management system. Merkel et al. [25] introduced the
concept of integrated fluidic microsystems on PCB
substrates, and its cost advantages over silicon as a
substrate material for low-cost batch fabrication have
been investigated by Nguyen and Huang [23]. Hybrid
integration of electronic and fluidic components on
ceramic substrates with thick-film technology offers a
very high degree of integration with inherent advan-
tages on reliability and performance.
From the aforementioned survey of past work, it is
clear that considerable work has been done to enhance
heat flux removal in integrated circuits (IC), using
liquid-based microchannel cooling. Also, an extensive
variety in micropumping principles and techniques
has been demonstrated. Further attention should be
focused from a device perspective, towards integrat-
ing the heat exchanger and the pumping mechanism.
Minichannels may be used in applications where
portability and cost restrict the use of high pumping
power and the requirements for heat removal are mod-
erate. Piezoelectric elements have been widely used
for sensing and actuation, and several investigations
have been performed to characterize and optimize
their performance [26–28]. Previous investigations by
the authors have shown the suitability of piezoelec-
tric actuators for integration with fluidic elements on
PCB [24]. High actuation voltage has often been men-
tioned as a bottleneck towards its development in
portable applications [29]. However, piezoelectric ele-
ments are, in principle, low power consuming devices
and as shown in this work, with appropriate signal con-
ditioning, portable batteries can be used for meeting
the power requirement of the micropump.
In this paper, the design and development of an inte-
grated micropump–heat exchanger unit on portable
PCB is investigated for electronic cooling. The working
principle of the piezoelectrically actuated micropump
with conical diffuser elements is initially introduced.
This is followed by a description of the fabrication
steps involved in manufacturing the modular stand-
alone micropump, including the design and perfor-
mance of the signal conditioning and control unit.
The experimental set-up and associated instrumen-
tation used for characterizing the integrated system
are described next. Results for the hydraulic and ther-
mal performance of the modular micropump–heat
exchanger are then presented, and finally relevant
conclusions are drawn.
2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF THE VALVELESS
MICROPUMP
The basic elements of the valveless micropump are
two similar conical diffuser/nozzle elements attached
to the pump chamber in reverse orientation, and a
thin circular diaphragm, actuated periodically using
the piezoelectric element (Fig. 1). The pump principle
JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
 Design and development of a modular valveless micropump 955

3 DEVELOPMENT OF A MODULAR VALVELESS

MICROPUMP

The design of a modular micropump aims at subdi-

viding the system into separate reusable modules that
can be independently created and are self-contained
functional elements. Reduction in cost and flexibility
in operations are the inherent advantages obtained.
From a pragmatic level concerning manufacturabil-
Fig. 1 Schematic of the principle of operation of the ity and integration of a portable modular valveless
valveless micropump. Darker arrows imply higher micropump, PCBs are appropriate, allowing hybrid
volume flow rate integration of electronic, mechanical, and fluidic com-
ponents on a common substrate. In the following
sections, the fabrication of discrete valveless microp-
is based on the unique characteristics of the dif-
umps on PCBs is first described. Signal conditioning
fuser/nozzle conduits to have a direction-dependent
and control aspects are discussed next, followed by
flow resistance, for the same applied pressure. For
the hybrid integration of the modules on the PCB.
small conical angles (<15◦ ) the velocity head is
converted into the pressure head in the diverging
(diffuser) direction and an increase in the static pres-
sure is obtained. In the converging (nozzle) direction, 3.1 Fabrication of discrete micropumps
the kinetic energy is increased and the fluid exits the
Discrete micropumps, excluding the electronic com-
nozzle as a jet. The total pressure loss occurring in the
ponents, were initially fabricated to study the effect
two directions consists of losses due to sudden con-
of geometrical configuration and input excitation sig-
traction at the entrance, due to gradual expansion or
nal on the output performance. Figure 2 shows the
contraction through the length of the diffuser/nozzle,
top surface of one of the prototypes on PCB substrate
and losses due to sudden expansion at the exit. A
used for experimentation. Copper on the PCB was
relatively higher pressure loss occurs in the nozzle
structured by wet chemical etching (FeCl3 ) to form a
compared with that in the diffuser due to a consid-
circular pump chamber, 18 mm in diameter and 30 µm
erable difference in the momentum change in the two
in depth. Compared with other precision machining
directions. For steady flow through the diffuser/nozzle
techniques, a relatively lesser chamber dead volume
element, its rectification efficiency can be expressed as
is thereby obtained, facilitating a higher compression
ξn,t ratio and self-priming capability in the micropump.
η= The substrate was subsequently tinned at 270 ◦ C to
ξd,t
allow ease in soldering the piezoelectric actuator. A
where ξn,t and ξd,t are the total pressure loss coefficients commercially available piezoelectric element stuck on
occurring in the nozzle and the diffuser directions, a brass diaphragm, with diameters of 15 and 20 mm,
respectively. Geometrical dimensions of the conduits respectively, and with a thickness of 0.2 mm each, was
and Reynolds number of the fluid have been shown
to affect this steady rectification efficiency [30]. Fur-
thermore, since the pumping action relies on dynamic
actuation, effects of frequency and flow recirculation
in the conduits are important ongoing issues being
addressed, for further expanding the knowledge on the
dynamic flow rectification phenomenon [31]. Under
the assumption of a quasi-steady flow, a preferential
flow takes place in the diverging direction as indicated
by the darker arrows in Fig. 1.
During operation, the piezoelectric actuator gen-
erates under- and over-pressure fluctuations in the
pump chamber in a two-stroke pump cycle. When
the diaphragm deflects up, relatively more fluid
enters the pump chamber through the inlet than
through the outlet. Similarly, when the diaphragm
deflects down, more fluid goes out through the out-
let. Consequently, a net fluid volume is transported
from the inlet to the outlet as the diaphragm vibrates Fig. 2 Photograph of discrete prototype micropump
up and down periodically. fabricated on PCB substrate

JMES1315 © IMechE 2009 Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
956 P Verma, D Chatterjee, and T Nagarajan

used for actuation. Conical diffuser elements were pre-

cision fabricated with custom-made HSS taper tools
in brass and plastic. A vision-based measurement
system, comprising a CCD camera (Basler A601f ),
microscope (Optomech VM-12), and Vision System
(NI 1454CVS), was used for inspection of form errors,
presence of burrs, and geometrical dimensioning. The
diffusers had a throat diameter of 0.53 ± 0.03 mm, a
cone angle of ≈10◦ , and were 5.3 mm in length.

3.2 Signal conditioning and control

Micropumps based on piezoelectric actuation require
a high AC voltage for operation. Function generators
and power amplifiers are generally used for signal con-
ditioning and control requirements. This often leads to
a bulky system with severe constraints on portability.
Analogous to the piezoelectric actuator, electrolumi-
nescent (EL) lamps used in backlighting of time pieces
and liquid crystal displays are capacitive elements,
requiring high AC voltage for operation. Commercially
available EL lamp drivers have a small footprint and
require a minimal number of auxiliary components to
convert a low-voltage DC signal (3 V) to a high-voltage
AC output (220 V), conserving the power. Since the
current consumption is low, portable batteries can be
used for power supply requirements and can be effec-
tively adapted as an electrical driver for piezoelectric
actuation in the modular micropump.
Figure 3(a) shows the schematic for embedded
signal conditioning and control of the micropump.
Switch mode inverter IC (D356B) manufactured by
Durel Corporation Arizona was used in conjunction
with a microcontroller (PIC16F84A, MicrochipTM ) to
control the amplitude and frequency of the excitation
signal supplied to the piezoelectric element. Actuation
was achieved by repeatedly pumping charge through
an external inductor with current supplied from the
microcontroller at pin 5 and discharging it into the
capacitance of the piezoelectric load at pin 3. A series
resistor was used between the piezoelectric element
and pin 3 to filter electrical noise feedback to the driver
IC. With each high-frequency cycle controlled by the
on-chip logic, the voltage on the load was increased. At
a period specified by the clock signal supplied by the
microcontroller at pin 6, the voltage on the lamp was
discharged to the ground and the polarity of the induc-
tive charging was reversed. An alternating positive and
negative voltage was thus obtained at the single output
lead of the actuator. The other actuator lead was com-
monly grounded. A trigger signal supplied through the
microcontroller at pin 8 of the driver IC, to enable or
disable it, provided a degree of flexibility, for real-time
operations of the micropump.
Typical output waveform characteristics measured
using a two-channel Agilent oscilloscope (DSO3102A)
with different scales per channel are shown in Fig. 3(b).
Channel 1 shows the control signal with 130 Hz
Fig. 3 (a) Schematic for embedded signal conditioning
and control of the micropump. (b) Typical control
signal from the microcontroller (channel 1) and
drive signal to the micropump (channel 2)
frequency and 50 per cent duty cycle generated
through the microcontroller at port A. This was subse-
quently applied to the driver IC through a resistance.
Channel 2 shows the corresponding excitation signal
generated at the piezoelectric actuator lead. Due to
continuous charging and discharging of the piezo-
electric element, an asymmetrical quasi-rectangular
(sawtooth) waveform is obtained. The rise and fall
time for the case shown is 3.6 ms and is an outcome
of the capacitive effect of the PZT element. For the
auxiliary component values shown and a piezoelectric
capacitance of 13.6 nF, a maximum amplitude of 220
VPP within a frequency bandwidth of 90–400 Hz could
be generated. The input DC voltage levels could be
adjusted between 1 and 7 V. A decrease in the peak-to-
peak voltage and power consumption with frequency
at a fixed DC voltage were also observed. These effects
are the characteristic frequency response features of
the driver IC and further study can be performed to
improve upon the driver performance.
3.3 Hybrid integration on the PCB
After an initial breadboard testing of the circuit, elec-
trical interconnections were wired on the PCB using
printed circuit traces and vias. Electronic, mechani-
cal, and fluidic components were then assembled to
form the modular system. Figure 4 shows the bottom
surface of a typical prototype micropump with the

Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
 Design and development of a modular valveless micropump
Fig. 4 Photograph of the integrated modular valveless
micropump on PCB
diffuser elements at the leftmost edge along with the
microcontroller and the auxiliary components on its
right. The piezoelectric actuator and the SMD driver
IC (D356B) are on the top surface, and hence not visi-
ble. The system was programmed for time-dependent
variable flow and pressure head by changing the exci-
tation frequency. Since the primary motivation for
this work was to minimize the number of compo-
nents and cost for a portable cooling system, while
still retaining good thermal management capabilities,
attempts at optimizing the circuitry had not been per-
formed. However, it may be mentioned that the values
of piezoelectric capacitance and inductor inductance
are important parameters that need to be eventually
considered for optimal power utilization. The over-
all size of the fabricated micropump–heat exchanger
is 30 × 70 mm. Further miniaturization of the sys-
tem, including surface-mounted devices and multi-
ple micropumps on board, controlled individually by
the microcontroller, will be the eventual goal in this
direction for a portable thermal management system.
4 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP AND
INSTRUMENTATION
Figure 5 shows a schematic of the experimental
set-up utilized to determine the micropump and
Fig. 5 Schematic of the experimental set-up used to characterize the integrated cooling system
JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
957
heat exchanger performance characteristics. Absolute
ethanol was used as the working fluid during these
experiments. Due to its low surface tension proper-
ties, priming of the pump could be easily achieved. The
inlet reservoir was connected to the micropump inlet
diffuser through a transparent plastic tube 2.5 mm in
diameter and 10 mm in length. A flexible Y-shaped
tube 2.5 mm in diameter (10 mm length) was used to
connect the outlet diffuser to the two channels in the
heat sink. A similarY-tube was used to connect the heat
sink to the outlet reservoir as shown in Fig. 5. Since the
heat generating IC can be at a location other than that
of the diffusers on the PCB, such a configuration using
flexible tubing was tested. However, the heat sink can
be fixed directly over the diffusers if the heat source
is in close proximity. The fluid was pumped from the
inlet to the outlet reservoir through the heat sink in an
open loop configuration by the modular micropump.
The input voltage to the microcontroller was supplied
by a regulated DC power supply (APLAB LQ6324). To
allow flexibility in operations and avoid unnecessary
microcontroller programming for repeated frequency
sweeps, a function generator (HP33120A) was used
alternatively during some experiments.
A conventional extruded aluminium heat sink, used
commercially in power regulators, with a base area
of 16 mm × 25 mm was used in experimentation. A
schematic representation of one half of the symmet-
rical heat sink is shown in Fig. 6. Perspex (acrylic)
sheets were used as a cover slip over the two chan-
nels, each 3 mm in width and 4 mm in height. Four
aluminium connectors with 2.5 mm internal diame-
ter and 7 mm length were used to connect the heat
sink to the micropump and outlet reservoir. The heat
sink was attached to a plate heater using thermal
paste and clamped under pressure to ensure good
contact and uniform heat flux distribution. T-type
copper–constantan thermocouples were attached at
the sidewalls (Tw1 and Tw2 ) and at two points along the
symmetry axis (Tw3 and Tw4 ), as shown in Fig. 6. Inlet
and outlet liquid temperatures were measured by plac-
ing the thermocouples inside the inlet reservoir (Ti )
Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
958 P Verma, D Chatterjee, and T Nagarajan
Fig. 6 Half-sectional schematic of the tested heat sink.
All dimensions are in mm. Material A is alu-
minium, B is the fluid zone, C is Perspex, and D
shows the plane of symmetry. Tw1 –Tw4 indicate
the locations of surface mounted thermocouples
and in the plastic tube downstream of the heat sink
(To ). The entire assembly was thermally packed using
glass wool to reduce convective losses to air.
Temperature from the thermocouples was acquired
and monitored continuously using a data logger (HP
34970A) and stored in a computer for further analysis.
AC power to the heater was supplied through a Variac
in order to control the heat flux input to the heat sink.
Voltage and current across the heater and the modular
micropump were monitored during the experiments
using an oscilloscope (Agilent, Model DSO3102A) and
current and voltage meters.
5 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Investigations were initially performed to determine
the performance characteristics of the piezoelectric
actuator used to drive the fluid flow. Hydraulic testing
of the micropump with a heat sink in series between
the inlet and outlet reservoirs was then conducted.
Finally, experiments were performed at the optimal
pump frequency to determine the effectiveness of the
pumping system in controlling the temperature rise in
the heat sink.
5.1 Piezoelectric actuator characterization
Experimental and numerical investigations were per-
formed to study the effect of frequency and voltage
on the static and dynamic deflection characteris-
tics of the actuator, without liquid loading. A Laser
Doppler Vibrometer (POLYTEC OFV-551) was inter-
faced with a data acquisition system (NI PXI-1033)
to determine the frequency response, by applying
a sinusoidal signal through an arbitrary waveform
generator (Agilent 3325a). As shown in Fig. 7, the
Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
Fig. 7 Frequency response of the 20 mm diameter actu-
ator without liquid loading
first resonance frequency of the actuator appears at
approximately 5 kHz. The inertia of the diaphragm can
thus be neglected at frequencies much lower than this
frequency and its mechanical response under such
conditions can be assumed to be quasi-static.
Numerical analyses were performed using the finite
element package ANSYS. In these simulations, tetra-
hedral structural element solid-92 and coupled field
element solid-98 were chosen to model the passive
brass plate and the PZT layers, respectively. It has
been seen that for bonding layer to passive plate
thickness ratio (hb–p ) below 0.3, minor changes in
deflection characteristics are obtained for a circu-
lar PZT actuator in a valveless micropump [26, 27].
Moreover, for PZT/passive plate thickness ratio (hpzt–p )
above 0.4 the bonding layer effects were seen to be
insignificant. Considering the values (hb–p ∼ 0.1 and
hpzt–p = 1) used in the present actuator, the bond-
ing layer effects on the displacement were considered
negligible and not modelled. The cylindrical passive
plate and PZT volumes were glued such that the com-
mon areas, lines, and key points were merged during
the modelling. The material properties of PZT-4 were
used during simulations and all the degrees of free-
dom of the bottom edge of the passive plate were
constrained, to simulate the simply supported case.
Grid independence studies were initially performed in
order to minimize the computational resources and
verify the accuracy of the finite element model. Sim-
ulation results for the harmonic frequency analysis of
the actuator are shown in Fig. 7. There is a reason-
able match between the experimental and numerical
results.
To further validate the numerical approach and
determine the volume of fluid displaced by the actu-
ator, simulation results for the displaced volume are
compared with the experimental results obtained by
the present authors using Digital Speckle Pattern
Interferometry [24]. The actuator used in that study
included a 35 mm brass diaphragm with a 25 mm
JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
 Design and development of a modular valveless micropump
Fig. 8 Effect of applied DC voltage on the volume
displaced by the actuators
piezoelectric element glued on it. Both brass and
piezoelectric elements had a thickness of 0.2 mm.
A linear increase in displacement with voltage is
observed, due to an increase in the charge accumu-
lated on the PZT electrodes with increasing voltage
(Fig. 8). Simulation results show good agreement
with the experimental values, considering the fact
that the soldering of the actuator on PCB induces
non-ideal boundary condition on the edge of the
diaphragm. The numerical procedure can thus be
adapted to determine the static displacement char-
acteristics of the 20 mm actuator used in the present
set-up. The simulated volume displaced by this actua-
tor for variable voltage input is also shown in Fig. 8. A
linear fit (y = 0.041x) can be approximated to deter-
mine the displacement at higher excitation voltage
levels.
It has been seen that piezoelectric actuators exhibit
hysteresis and non-linearity, particularly at higher
operational voltages [28, 32]. The influence of non-
linearity gets accounted for in this study, when
the effect of varying driving voltage on the micro-
pump performance is measured. Previous exper-
iments by the authors on piezoelectric elements
have shown hysteresis effects for static displace-
ment, for operational voltages in the range 0–100 V
DC [24]. Dynamic hysteresis effects at different fre-
quencies were not investigated in this work and are
expected to have a less pronounced influence on the
flowrate and pressure head developed, when com-
pared with the corresponding effects due to variation
in frequency.
5.2 Micropump performance with attached
heat sink
The pressure head at zero flow and the flowrate at neg-
ligible pressure head were taken as the performance
parameters of the micropump. The average output
flowrate was determined by collecting ethanol in a
JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
959
Fig. 9 Effect of excitation frequency on the performance
characteristics of the micropump
calibrated reservoir over an interval of time. The liq-
uid was allowed to rise in an outlet column, and the
condition where the flowrate became zero yielded the
value of maximum pressure head.
The effect of input excitation frequency on the per-
formance of the system at 4 VDC is shown in Fig. 9.
Both flowrate and pressure head increase at low fre-
quencies and reach a maximum value at an optimal
frequency of around 250 Hz. This optimal working
frequency is much below the resonant frequency of
the piezoelectric actuator without liquid damping
(∼5 kHz). A maximum pressure head of 550 Pa and
a flowrate of 1.65 ml/min were obtained at this fre-
quency. With further increase in driving frequency, the
performance of the micropump was found to deterio-
rate. Figure 10 shows the performance characteristics
of the micropump with varying DC voltage at an exci-
tation frequency of 250 Hz. The pressure head and
flowrate of the micropump increase with applied volt-
age. This is due to an increase in the volume of fluid
displaced by the actuator. Maximum flowrate and a
Fig. 10 Effect of applied DC voltage on the performance
characteristics of the micropump
Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
960 P Verma, D Chatterjee, and T Nagarajan

pressure head of 2.4 ml/min and 743 Pa were obtained

at 6 VDC .
Due to electro–mechanical–fluidic coupling, the
dynamic equations representing the system characteri-
stics represent a set of non-linear partial differential-
integral equations [33]. Obtaining an exact analytical
solution is very difficult and approximate approaches
have been attempted to predict the performance. A
simplified relationship can, however, be established to
determine an approximate volume flowrate V̇ deliv-
ered by the micropump: V̇ = 2Vf χ , where V is
the stroke volume of the actuator, f is the excitation
frequency, and χ is the static rectification efficiency
of the diffuser/nozzle combination [12]. Using the
simulation results presented in section 5.1, and an
applied maximum voltage of 110 V zero-to-peak, the
displaced volume can be determined to be 1.56 µl. For
an operational frequency of 250 Hz and an experimen-
tal flowrate of 2.4 ml/min, the rectification efficiency is
calculated to be 0.05. This value lies towards the lower
end of the typical range of 0.01–0.3 for this type of
valveless micropump.

5.3 Thermal management

In practical applications, it may be expected that the
micropump will be triggered on when the tempera-
ture of the device exceeds a certain critical value. To
examine the effectiveness of the modular micropump
in such real-time situations, the pump was started
after the heat sink reached a steady temperature. The
steady state was defined as a rise of <1 ◦ C in the
heat sink temperatures over an extended period of
time. Two such results demonstrating real-time tem-
perature variations are given in (Figs 11(a) and (b)),
corresponding respectively to 1.45 and 2.5 W electri-
cal power input to the heater. Figure 11(a) shows the
variation of heat sink surface temperatures (Tw1 –Tw4 )
and inlet Ti and outlet To liquid temperatures with
time. The heater was switched on and the heat sink
was allowed to reach a steady temperature of 67 ◦ C
in the absence of liquid, as depicted in zone 1. A
small increase in the outlet thermocouple reading with
time can be observed. This is due to the heat con-
ducted away from the heated heat sink. Zone 2 depicts
the region when the micropump is switched on and
ethanol is pumped through the heat sink. As the liq-
uid enters the heat sink, a large amount of heat flux is
absorbed by a small quantity of ethanol, because of a
large initial temperature difference between the heat
sink and the ethanol. Hence, a sharp increase at the
outlet thermocouple temperature can be seen initially.
As the flow is maintained, a gradual reduction in the
heat sink surface temperatures and liquid outlet tem-
perature is observed. For a flowrate of 1.1 ml/min, an
average steady state temperature of 50 ◦ C was recorded
in the heat sink. The outlet liquid temperature was
Fig. 11 Transient and steady-state temperatures of the
heat sink for real-time control. (a) 1.45 W and
(b) 2.5 W electrical power input to heater. Zone
1 represents no liquid flow, zone 2 represents
a flowrate of 0.9 ml/min (1 ml/min in (b)), and
zone 3 represents a flowrate of 1.3 ml/min
approximately 43 ◦ C. Since an open-loop set-up is
used in this work, the inlet liquid temperature does
not vary with time. To ensure that the temperature
reduction is due to liquid flow only, the micropump
is switched off and an expected increase in surface
temperatures is seen.
Figure 11(b) shows a similar real-time control when
the input heater power is increased to 2.5 W. The heat
sink reached a steady temperature of 90 ◦ C without
any liquid. For a flowrate of 0.9 ml/min, a drop in the
steady-state surface temperature to 66 ◦ C is observed
(zone 2). In contrast to Fig. 11(a), the flowrate was fur-
ther increased to 1.3 ml/min and it can be seen that
there was a subsequent drop in wall temperatures and
a new steady-state value of 61 ◦ C is obtained (zone
3). Outlet liquid temperatures corresponding to these
two flowrates are 55 and 46 ◦ C, respectively. Since the
temperature readings from the four thermocouples
attached to the heat sink (Tw1 –Tw4 , Figs 11(a) and (b))
were found to be similar, an averaged surface temper-
ature Tw based on these four thermocouple values is
used henceforth.

Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
 Design and development of a modular valveless micropump
Fig. 12 Effect of liquid flow on the rise time and average
steady-state temperatures of the heat sink for
1.45 W heater input power
To determine the rise time required to reach a steady
surface temperature with liquid flow in the heat sink,
the micropump was activated before the heater was
turned on. The variation of average heat sink temper-
ature Tw with time at 1.45 W input power is shown in
Fig. 12. It is seen that the steady wall temperature drops
with increasing liquid flowrate and a steady state could
be reached within a much shorter time (from over
30 min without liquid to around 10 min at 2 ml/min
flowrate).
A normalized heat sink temperature can be defined
to examine the effectiveness of the micropump–heat
exchanger unit for thermal management.
Tw − Ta
θ= (1)
Tw,max − Ta
where Tw,max is the maximum wall temperature in
the absence of liquid and Ta is the ambient temper-
ature. Figure 13 shows the variation of the normalized
heat sink surface temperatures against the flowrate. It
Fig. 13 Effect of liquid flowrate on normalized average
surface temperature of the heat sink and electri-
cal power consumption by the micropump
JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
961
can be observed that at both input heater power lev-
els there is a significant reduction (∼57 per cent) in
the heat sink surface temperatures above the ambi-
ent temperature. Zero flowrate here implies the case
without any liquid in the heat sink. The micropump
consumed 150 mW of electrical power to produce this
maximum temperature reduction.
Based on the mass flow rate, temperature, and geo-
metrical and material properties, the heat removal by
the liquid can be represented in terms of heat trans-
fer coefficients, h, and Nusselt numbers, Nu. The total
heat flux carried by the liquid can be defined as
Q̇ = ρ V̇ Cp (To − Ti ) (2)
where ρ and Cp are the density and specific heat of
ethanol, respectively. The heat flux per unit area can
be expressed as q = Q̇/2(2Ab + As ), where Ab and As
are the base and side areas of the heat sink exposed to
ethanol. The top of each channel was covered with per-
spex as coverslip and is not considered to contribute
to heat transfer in these calculations. The experimen-
tal heat transfer coefficient and the Nu can thus be
determined from equations (3) and (4)
q
h= (3)
[Tw − 1
2
(To + Ti )]
hDh
Nu = (4)
k
where Dh is the hydraulic diameter of the channel
and k is the thermal conductivity of ethanol. The
experimentally obtained heat transfer coefficient var-
ied from 40 to 110 W/m2 K and the corresponding Nu
values varied between 0.8 and 2.3 over the entire range
of flowrates and heater power levels considered. The
values are lower than that reported for steady flow in
literature. Since pulsating flow has been used in the
experiments, it is expected that Nu would additionally
depend on the amplitude and frequency of pulsation.
Moreover, it has been observed that except for a small
window of this frequency, the time-averaged Nu value
could be lower than the corresponding steady state Nu
numbers [34]. A weak dependence of Nu on Reynolds
number seen in the experimental data is because the
length of the channel (25 mm) is only slightly longer
than the thermal entry length (23 mm) and this might
have influenced the average heat transfer coefficient
calculated here, as reported in reference [35].
Since a commercially available heat sink with non-
optimized minichannel geometry and low flowrates
were utilized in this study, the heat tranfer rate is small.
It is expected that by improving the pumping perfor-
mance further and employing microchannels, much
higher heat tranfer coefficients can be obtained.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
962 P Verma, D Chatterjee, and T Nagarajan
6 CONCLUSIONS
A low-cost thermal management system for active
cooling of electronic components on a portable
PCB has been developed. Hybrid integration of
electronic, mechanical, and fluidic components has
been performed to form a modular micropump–
heat exchanger unit. The microcontroller-based cool-
ing system requires a minimal number of auxiliary
components and portable batteries can be used for
power supply requirements. The characterized mod-
ular micropump delivered a maximum flowrate of
2.4 ml/min and experimentation with a minichannel
heat sink showed 57 per cent reduction in the steady-
state surface temperatures with a low (150 mW) power
consumption by the micropump. A significant reduc-
tion in the rise time to reach steady temperatures was
also seen. Integration of the secondary heat exchanger
and fluid reservoirs on the substrate in a closed-loop
configuration is further envisioned.
REFERENCES
1 Garimella, S. V., Singhal, V., and Liu, D. On chip thermal
management with microchannel heat sinks and inte-
grated micropump. Proc. IEEE, 2006, 94(8), 1534–1548.
2 Tuckerman, D. B. and Pease, R. High performance heat
sinking for VLSI. IEEE Electron Device Lett., 1981, 2(5),
126–129.
3 Joshi, Y. and Wei, X. Micro and meso scale com-
pact heat exchangers in electronics thermal manage-
ment – a review. In Proceedings of the 5th Interna-
tional Conference on Enhanced, Compact and Ultra
Compact Heat Exchangers, Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2005,
pp. 162–179.
4 Garimella, S. V. Advances in mesoscale thermal man-
agement technologies for microelectronics. J . Microelec-
tron., 2006, 37, 1165–1185.
5 Morini, G. Single-phase convective heat transfer in
microchannels: a review of experimental results. Int. J.
Thermal Sci., 2004, 43, 631–651.
6 Wois, P. Micropumps – past, progress and future
prospects. Sens. Actuator B, 2005, 105(1), 28–38.
7 Laser, D. J. and Santiago, J. G. A review of micropumps.
J. Micromech. Microeng., 2004, 14, R35–R64
8 Singhal, V., Garimella, S. V., and Raman, A. Microscale
pumping technologies for microchannel cooling sys-
tems. Appl. Mech. Rev., 2004, 57(3), 191–221.
9 Singhal, V. and Garimella, S. V. Induction electrohydro-
dynamic micropump for high heat flux cooling. Sens.
Actuators A, 2007, 134, 650–659.
10 Jiang, L., Mikkelsen, J., Koo, J. M., Huber, D., Ya, S.,
and Zhang, L. Closed-loop electroosmotic microchan-
nel cooling system for VLSI circuits. IEEE Trans. Compon.
Packag. Technol., 2002, 25(3), 347–355.
11 Singhal,V. and Garimella, S. V. A novel valveless microp-
ump with electrohydrodynamics enhancement for high
heat flux cooling. IEEE Trans. Adv. Packag. 2005, 28(2),
216–230.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science
12 Stemme, E. and Stemme, G. A valveless diffuser/nozzle
based fluid pump. Sens. Actuator A, 1993, 39,
159–167.
13 Gerlach, T. and Wurmus, H. Working principle and per-
formance of the dynamic micropump Sens. Actuator A,
1995, 50, 135–140.
14 Bardell, R. L., Sharma, N. R., Forster, F. K., Martin,
A. A., and Penney, R. J. Designing high performance
micro-pumps based on no-moving parts valves. ASME
DSC Microelectromech. Syst., 1997, 354, 47–53.
15 Izzo, I., Accoto, D., Menciassi, A., Schmitt, L., and Dario,
P. Modeling and experimental validation of a piezoelec-
tric micropump with novel no-moving-part valves. Sens.
Actuator A, 2007, 133(1), 128–140.
16 Olsson, A., Enoksson, P., Stemme, G., and Stemme, E.
A valve-less planar pump isotropically etched in silicon.
J. Micromech. Microeng., 1996, 6(1), 87–91.
17 Zhao, Q. L., Yuan, J., Liu, H. M., Duan, Z. X.,
Zhang, W. T., and Qiu, C. J. Stationary fluid dynamic
behavior of V shaped diffuser/nozzle elements for
valveless micropump. Chin. Phys. Lett., 2008, 25(4),
1359–1361.
18 Olsson, A., Enoksson, P., Stemme, G., and Stemme,
E. Micromachined flat-walled valveless diffuser pumps.
J. Microelectromech. Syst., 1997, 6, 161–166.
19 Wego, A. and Pagel, L. A self filling micropump based on
PCB technology. Sens. Actuator A, 2001, 88, 220–226.
20 Olsson, A., Stemme, G., Larsson, O., Holm, J., Lund-
bladh, L., and Ohman, O. Valve-less diffuser micro-
pumps fabricated using thermoplastic replication. Sens.
Actuator A, 1998, 64, 63–68.
21 Mu, H., Hung, P., and Ngoi, A. Optimization design of
a piezoelectric micropump. Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol.,
1999, 15, 573–576.
22 Yamahata, C., Frederic, L., and Martin, G. Glass valveless
micropump fabricated using electromagnetic actuation.
J. Microelectron., 2005, 79, 132–137.
23 Nguyen, N. and Huang, X. Miniature valveless pumps
based on printed circuit board technique. Sens. Actuator
A, 2001, 88, 104–111.
24 Verma, P., Bhaduri, B., Mohan, N. K., Kothiyal, M.,
and Srinivasa, Y. G. Modeling and optical characteriza-
tion of piezoelectric actuator for a valveless micropump.
In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on
Optoelectronics Fiber Optics and Photonics, Hyderabad,
December 2006, MMM 11.
25 Merkel, T., Graeber, M., and Pagel, L. A new technology
for fluidic microsystems based on PCB technology. Sens.
Actuator A, 1999, 77, 98–105.
26 Morris, C. J. and Forster F. K. Optimization of a cir-
cular piezoelectric bimorph for a micropump driver.
J. Micromech. Microeng., 2000, 10, 459–465.
27 Li, S. and Chen, S. Analytical analysis of a circular PZT
actuator for valveless micropumps. Sens. Actuators A,
2003, 104, 151–161.
28 Viswamurthy, S. R. and Ganguli, R. Modeling and com-
pensation of piezoceramic actuator hysteresis for heli-
copter vibration control. Sens. Actuators A, 2007, 135,
801–810.
29 Kan, J., Tang, K., Liu, G., Zhu, G., and Shao, C. Devel-
opment of serial-connection piezoelectric pumps. Sens.
Actuator A, 2008, 144(2), 321–327.
JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
 Design and development of a modular valveless micropump
30 Olsson, A., Stemme, G., and Stemme, E. Numerical and
experimental studies of flat walled diffuser elements
for valveless micropumps. Sens. Actuator A, 2000, 84,
165–175.
31 Sun, C. L. and Huang, K. H. Numerical characteriza-
tion of the flow rectification of dynamic microdiffusers.
J. Micromech. Microeng., 2006, 16, 1331–1339.
32 Thakkar, D. and Ganguli, R. Use of single crystal and soft
piezoceramics for alleviation of flow separation induced
vibration in a smart helicopter rotor. Smart Mater. Struct.,
2006, 15, 331–341.
JMES1315 © IMechE 2009
963
33 Pan, L. S., Ng, T. Y., Wu, X. H., and Lee, H. P. Analysis of
valveless micropumps with inertial effects. J. Micromech.
Microeng., 2003, 13, 390–399.
34 Moschandreou, T. and Zamir, M. Heat transfer in a flow
with pulsating flow and constant heat flux. Int. J. Heat
Mass Transf., 1997, 40(10), 2461–2462.
35 Kandlikar, S. G. Single phase liquid flow in minichannels
and microchannels. In Heat transfer and fluid flow in
minichannels and microchannels (Eds S. G. Kandlikar, S.
Garimella, D. Li, S Colin, and M. R. King), 2006, pp. 87–136
(Elsevier Publications, UK).
Proc. IMechE Vol. 223 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science