Miniature Ring-Shaped Peristaltic Pump

An experimental miniature peristaltic pump exploits piezoelectrically excited flexural waves that travel around a ring: A fluid is carried in the containers formed in the valleys between the peaks of the flexural waves, What sets the present pump apart from other pumps that exploit piezoelectrically excited flexural waves is the ring shape, which makes it possible to take advantage of some of the desirable characteristics of previously developed piezoelectric rotary motors. A major advantage of the circular (in contradistinction to a straight-line) wave path is that the flexural waves do not come to a stop and, instead, keep propagating around the ring. Hence, a significant portion of the excitation energy supplied during each cycle is reused during the next cycle, with the result that the pump operates more effectively than it otherwise would.