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Thermal Micropump

Posted Jul 9, 2014, 11:51 a.m. EDT Fluid & Heat, Heat Transfer & Phase Change, Microfluidics, Studies & Solvers, Structural Mechanics Version 4.4 2 Replies

Marwan Nafea
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Hi all,

I am trying to build a model of a PDMS micropump that pumps a liquid stored inside its reservoir due to heat. When the air inside it expands due to heat, the liquid will be pumped out.
The heat source is a copper layer attached to the PDMS external walls, with a total power of 0.2 W.

I used heat transfer in solids and solid mechanics modules to simulate this model, but I kept getting an error saying:
"Failed to find a solution. In segregated group 2: The relative error (4) is greater than the relative tolerance. Returned solution is not converged".

- What is the reason behind that?
- Do you suggest using other modules, such as laminar flow or conjugate heat transfer?

Thank you so much
Best regards,
Marwan
2 Replies Last Post Jul 10, 2014, 1:31 p.m. EDT
Pieter Westerik
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Posted: 1 decade ago Jul 10, 2014, 9:56 a.m. EDT
The Rayleigh number for your structure will determine whether or not natural convection will occur in your cavity. If it does, you need to use conjugated heat transfer, if not, heat transfer in sollids will suffice I think.
The Rayleigh number for your structure will determine whether or not natural convection will occur in your cavity. If it does, you need to use conjugated heat transfer, if not, heat transfer in sollids will suffice I think.
Marwan Nafea
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Posted: 1 decade ago Jul 10, 2014, 1:31 p.m. EDT
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.

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