MEMS 411: Mini Syringe Pump

In many research and medical settings, small amounts of liquids are dispensed using syringes. Very often, syringe pumps like those shown in the left image, are used to control the amount (i.e., flow rate) of dispensed/collected fluid. There are single- or multi-style syringe pumps; the one shown is single-style; multi-style have 2-8 parallel syringes that are all pushed/pulled at the same flow rate. However, these syringepumps are bulky and heavy, making them impractical for many experimental setups. Commercial alternatives include very expensive syringe pumps with remote dispensers. Furthermore, it is often necessary to have two syringe pumps operate in parallel and with different flow rates. Dr. Weisensee would like the student team to design and build an alternative to commercial syringe pumps that fulfills the following specifications: • It is light-weight (vertically above an experimental setup (using a clamp ona ½’’ post or ¼-20 screws spaced at 1’’ on a platform)• It can accommodate various sizes of standard plasticsyringes or glass syringes (1ml-50ml)• It can dispense liquid between 1μL/min and 10mL/min(can be achieved by varying the motor speed and/or thesyringe size – final design should have multiple pre-setsin flow rates for multiple syringe sizes)• It accommodates two syringes that operate in parallel,but with different flow rates• The two liquids are dispensed simultaneously using twoconcentric needles (see Fig. 2 for a sketch). The innerneedle should be Luer-connected and G30 or smaller.The outer “needle” could be another needle (G22 orlarger) with Luer connection, or a hollow tube (metal orstiff plastic). The goal is to engulf the inner liquid withthe outer one when forming droplets at the needle tip.• The liquids in the syringes can be heated up to 80°C