A Bioinspired Active Micropump

A preliminary design concept is provided for a bioinspired active micropump. The proposed micropump uses light energy to activate the transporter proteins (bacteriorhodopsin protein and sucrose/sugar transporter proteins), which create an osmotic pressure gradient and drive the fluid flow. The purpose of the bacteriorhodopsin protein is to pump proton from the pumping section to the sucrose source for a proton gradient. This proton gradient is used by the sucrose transporter proteins to transport sugar molecules from the sucrose solution chamber to the pumping channel, which generates an osmotic pressure in the pumping section. A numerical model is used to evaluate the performance of the micropump where the concentrations of proton and sucrose molecules are calculated using the conservation of chemical species equations. The fluid flow and pressure field are calculated from momentum and mass conservation equations. Simulation results predict that the micropump is capable of generating a pressure head that is comparable to other non-mechanical pumps. The proposed bioinspired self-sustained micropump will be most effective at low flow rate.