Micropumps designed for the flow-rate range of 100-1000μl/min have been developed by a number of research groups. However, little data is available regarding the ability of various designs to directly transport liquids containing particles such as cells, microspheres utilized for bead chemistry, or contaminants. In this study the ability of pumps with no-moving-parts valves (NMPV) to transport particles was investigated. The results showed that a NMPV micropump was able to directly pump suspensions of polystyrene microspheres from 3.1 to 20.3 μm in diameter. The pump functioned without clogging at microsphere number densities as high as 9000particles/μl of suspension, which corresponded to over 90,000 particles per second passing through the pump at a flow rate of 600μ1/min. Performance with polystyrene microspheres was the same as pure water up to the point of cavitation. Microspheres manufactured with negative surface charge cavitated less readily that other microspheres studied that were manufactured without surface charge. However, cavitation did not appear to be a function of microsphere size, total surface area or number density. Thus pumping polystyrene microspheres was found to be more affected by surface effects than by size, surface area or number density within the range of parameters considered. In the case of charged microspheres, the maximum flow rate was reduced by 30% compared to pure water whereas for uncharged microspheres the maximum flow rate was reduced by approximately 80%.
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