Piezoelectric fluid pump

Provided is a piezoelectric fluid pump, comprising: a main housing (102); a fluid reservoir within the main housing; a piston head (114) movably mounted within the main housing; a piezoelectric stack (106); a biasing mechanism arranged to couple the piston head and the piezoelectric stack and to maintain the piezoelectric stack in a compressed state; an outlet plate (104) statically mounted within the main housing adjacent the piston head wherein adjacent surfaces of the outlet plate and the piston head define a pumping chamber (126); an inlet disc valve (130) arranged to allow a unidirectional flow of fluid from the fluid reservoir into the pumping chamber; and an outlet disc valve arranged to allow fluid to flow out of the pumping chamber in a one-way manner. The combination of preloading of the piezoelectric pump in a compressed state and the use of the inlet disc valve results in a substantial improvement in pressure and flow capacity of the piezoelectric pump as compared to other piezoelectric pumps. 提供一