N. Labdelli, S. Soulimane (DOI: 10.24874/jsscm.2020.14.01.09)

 

Abstract

 

This paper reviews the development of a new microvalve with a cone-shaped tube, inspired by venous valves in the human body. Our microvalves allow fluid flow in one direction while restricting the flow in the opposite direction. When a microvalve is used to control the amount of drug delivery, the efficiency between inlet and outlet flow rate is the key control parameter for regulating and controlling the micro channel (opening/closing). This paper is devoted to the numerical study of flow rate changes in different microvalve geometries (3D) using a Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) method with an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) approach. Numerical simulations were carried out in comsol Multiphysics. In addition, the macrovalve performance was analysed for several pressures where the effect of different geometrical parameters such as the length of the anchor, the diameter at the base and the angle of the cone were studied. An efficiency parameter 𝐸𝑓𝑓 was employed to compare the different structures. For the best design obtained, it was found that the cone angle was the parameter having the most effect on the microvalves’ characteristics, and the forward flow rate was more than doubled compared to the reverse leakage rate.

 

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