A Solid-State Pump for Chemical Sampling

We propose development of a solid-state pump for chemical-species or warfare-agent collection. The pump will be small, light-weight, robust and consume little power. In contrast to other miniature pumps, it is simple to construct and will have no moving parts. The goals of Phase I are to design and build prototype pumps, and to characterize their performance. We will measure flow rates as a function of pump geometry and drive parameters. We will use this pump to make a miniature chemical-vapor preconcentrator. We will evaluate its performance using a micromachined flexural-plate-wave chemical sensor to measure the concentration of volatile-organic-compounds desorbed from a sorptive matrix within the device. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: This pump technology should be broadly applicable in instrumentation for: monitoring compliance with chemical-warfare treaties, monitoring fuel leaks, classifying waste products in known storage facilities, feedback-control of waste-remediation processes, workplace chemical-exposure monitoring, and indoor-air quality monitoring.