Fluid feeding pump, medical apparatus, and air bubble detection method for fluid feeding pump

摘要

A fluid feeding pump which varies a volume of a pump chamber and thus feeds a fluid out of the pump chamber, includes: a piezoelectric element which accumulates electric charges inside when a voltage is applied, and which deforms according to an amount of accumulated electric charges and thus increases or decreases the volume of the pump chamber; a drive unit which applies a drive signal with a waveform increasing to a predetermined maximum voltage and then decreasing, and thus drives the piezoelectric element; and an air bubble determining unit which detects a current flowing through the piezoelectric element within a predetermined period after the drive signal is applied to the piezoelectric element, and thus determines whether there are air bubbles in the pump chamber or not.