Miniature Ring-Shaped Perisaltic 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 (see Figure 1). The basic action of this pump is similar to that described in "Piezoelectric Flexural- Traveling- Wave Pumps" (NPO-19737), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 21, No. 4 (April 1997), page 66.