# Flux-Biased, Energy-Efficient Electromagnetic Micropumps Utilizing Bistable Magnetic Latching and Energy-Storage Springs

Brij M. Bhushan, Jun Young Yoon, Linda G. Griffith, David L. Trumper

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

## Abstract

On-platform pumping systems are a potentially critical technology for microphysiological systems (MPS) to control the pressure and flow of growth media. Supporting sufficient physiological tissue quantity in culture requires fluid flow rates on the order of microliters per second, which is larger than for typical microfluidic systems. Thus, a need exists for new types of pumping systems operating in this flow range while maintaining stringent sterility of the culture as well as enabling tight temperature control at ${37}^{\circ } {\rm C}$. Flow rates and pressure also need to be readily computer-controlled, with a manageable set of connections into the culture incubator environment. This article describes a novel mesoscale electromagnetically driven pumping system designed to meet all these requirements. Our design achieves a very low energy dissipation of ${0.65}\,{\rm mJ}$ per switching event, which allows one pumping channel to operate at ${0.45}\,{{\rm {\mu } L} /{\rm s}}$ with an average power dissipation of 1.3 mW and ${0.04}\,{{^\circ } {\rm C}}$ temperature rise in each actuator. The actuator operates in a bistable, teeter-totter configuration with a latching force of ${4.5}\,{\rm N}$, and a relatively large stroke of ${400}\,{{\mu } {\rm m}}$ at the actuator pole face. Preliminary operational pumping test results show the potential of this type of electromagnetic actuator for fluidic pumping. Due to their compact configuration and very high energy efficiency, these pumps can provide the foundation for multichannel, on-platform pumping for MPS platforms, as well as for a range of sterile, temperature-sensitive microflow devices such as portable, battery-operated insulin pumps.

Original language English 2362-2372 11 IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics 26 5 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2020.3038885 Published - 2021 Oct 1

### Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), USA under Grant W911NF-12-2-0039, in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA under Grant R01EB021908, in part by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) under Grant 2020R1C1C100801311, and in part by the Yonsei University Research Fund under Grant 2020-22-0098.