Micro-magnetohydrodynamic pump and method for operation of the same
US6241480A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 27, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 5, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 27, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC F)Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
- CPC primaryF04B19/006
- WIPO fieldEngines, pumps, turbines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A micropump fabricated in a planar substrate is provided with a valving chamber which is communicated to a pumping chamber. The valving chamber has an inlet and outlet port. Both the valving chamber and pumping chamber have a liquid, electrically conductive piston disposed therein, which liquid piston is nonmiscible with the pumped working fluid and nonreactive with the substrate in which the chambers are formed. The valving piston is magnetohydrodynamically driven to selectively close either the inlet port or the outlet port. The pumping piston is magnetohydrodynamically driven to pull or push the working fluid through one of the inlet or outlet ports, through the valving chamber, into the pumping chamber, back out of the pumping chamber and through the other one of the inlet or outlet ports after activation of the valving piston. Both direct current and inductive magnetohydrodynamic drives are contemplated. The valving and/or pumping chambers may be shaped or narrowed in their dimensions to impose a mechanical bias on the respective valving and/or pumping pistons to assume a preferred position in their respective chambers when the magnetohydrodynamic drive is turned off.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.