Hydromagnetic Micropump and Flow Controller. Part A: Experiments with nickel particles added to the water

The novel idea of the Hydromagnetic Micropump and Flow Controller (HMFC) is used in this paper to construct a laboratory setup capable of bidirectional pumping and controlling the flow in microtubes. A laboratory setup, which contains no moving parts, is integrated with a pressure-driven flow setup to make the presented HMFC device. The device operation is based on controllable motion of magnetic particles, added to the carrier fluid, caused by the magnetic field, produced by solenoids located just next to the microtube. The magnitude of these forces is proportional to the strength and gradient of magnetic field which, in turn, is related to the electrical current and arrangement of the solenoids. When switching period is smaller than 0.19 s, the device operates as a pump; while, the flow controlling characteristic is obtained for long switching periods. The flow can be pumped up to 113% of the initial flow rate or can be controlled in a regular and predictable manner. A series of experiments was conducted when nickel particles are added to the water, as the carrier fluid, to examine the impact of different parameters such as switching period and switching mode of solenoids and particle concentration on the performance of the device. Moreover, an ethanol–nickel mixture is used to investigate the impact of carrier fluid on the performance of the device. The role of particle substance is examined comparing results obtained for water–nickel and water–iron mixtures.