(665a) A Linear Peristaltic Device for Pumping and Mixing Liquids and Slurries
AIChE Annual Meeting
2021
2021 Annual Meeting
Particle Technology Forum
Poster Session: Particle Technology Forum - Virtual
Monday, November 15, 2021 - 10:30am to 12:00pm
The gastrointestinal tract is natureâs biological slurry pump. The actions of the muscles within the tract wall produce peristaltic waves and segmented contraction activity that efficiently mix and transport digestion materials and products. A biomimetic physical model of the gastrointestinal tract has been developed that uses controlled hoop actuators (unit constrictors) to simulate the peristaltic contraction and expansion action of the muscles which mix or propel the material within a closed (stomach) or open ended (oesophagus or duodenum) gastric conduit respectively.
A prototype linear peristaltic device based, on our gastric model, performed well in an exploratory study of pumping performance for a Newtonian fluid (water), achieving flow rates up to 365 mL/min and pumping heads up to 5.3 meters. Work is in progress to investigate the effectiveness of the device for pumping and mixing viscous slurries.