Theoretical and experimental study of MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) micropump

Abstract

This paper presents a novel micropump of which pumping mechanism is based upon magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) principles. MHD is the study of flow of electrically conducting liquids in electric and magnetic fields. Lorentz force is the pumping source of conductive, aqueous solutions in the MHD micropump. Conducting fluid in the microchannel of the MHD micropump is driven by Lorentz force in the direction perpendicular to both magnetic and electric fields. The performance of the micropump is obtained by measuring the pressure head difference and flow rate as the applied voltage changes from 10 to 60 VDC at 0.19 and 0.44 Tesla (T). The pressure head difference is 18 mm at 38 mA and the flow rate is 63 μl/min at 1.8 mA when the inside diameter of inlet/outlet tube is 2 mm and the magnetic flux density is 0.44 T. Bubble generation by the electrolysis of the conducting liquid can be observed. The performance of the MHD micropump obtained theoretically in single phase is compared with the experimental results.