(Currently under development)

The Nanopump™ is the latest generation of Debiotech's miniaturized drug delivery pumps based on MEMS chips. Building on more than twelve years of development, the Nanopump™ is a small, safe, reliable and accurate device. Due to the versatility of the technology and design, it can meet the requirements of a variety of liquid micro-dosing applications wherever high performance is to be guaranteed. The combination of low cost manufacturing and intrinsic reliability allows using this pump for disposable applications as well as long-term use.

DESIGN

The working principle is a volumetric membrane pump, with a pair of check valves, integrated in a MEMS chip. The chip is a stack of 3 layers bonded together: a silicon on insulator (SOI) plate with micromachined pump-structures and two Pyrex cover plates with through-holes. This MEMS chip is assembled with a piezoelectric actuator that moves the membrane in a reciprocating movement to compress and decompress the fluid in the pumping chamber.

DESIGN FEATURES

SOI Technology

The design and manufacturing process of the Nanopump™ starts with silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers. Such wafers are used as the starting material in the fabrication of the latest and fastest computer chips. For the Nanopump™ the SOI wafers allow to increase the precision while shrinking the size of the chip. At its small size, numerous chips can be manufactured at the same time on one wafer, minimizing the cost per chip.

Double Limiter Concept

Constant and accurate flow rate is guaranteed through the control of the displacement of the pumping membrane. The movement occurs between two mechanical stops defined by the construction of the chip. As a consequence, the flow rate is linear with actuation frequency and virtually insensitive to inlet and outlet pressure, actuation voltage, temperature, viscosity and aging.

Anti free flow valve

The outlet valve is equipped with a safety device that blocks the outlet under abnormal pressure conditions.

High compression ratio

The fluidic path is designed to minimize dead volume. Thanks to the resulting high compression ratio, the pump can pump compressible fluids as air, is self-priming and tolerant to air bubbles.

On-chip particle filter

To guarantee reliable long term operation, clean operating conditions can be ensured by a fine filter integrated on the chip.

Safety Monitor

The pump chip can be equipped with a built-in sensor allowing monitoring the pumping with every stroke. This constant control allows the quick detection of occlusion, the presence of air or other abnormal conditions.

Biocompatible materials

Material in contact with the drug is only glass, making it an ideal biocompatible product.

MANUFACTURING

The manufacturing of the Nanopump™ is conducted in partnership with ST Microelectronics NV. It benefits from ST’s extensive experience in large scale production of microfluidics MEMS devices.

PATENT PROTECTION

The Nanopump™ is protected by 21 patent families and more than 100 granted national extensions. This coverage includes all key components of the pump as well as its packaging. It guarantees exclusivity to Debiotech until 2028.

APPLICATIONS

The Nanopump™ can be used in various drug delivery devices, such as the JewelPUMP™ for diabetes treatment, the Nanopump™ for pain control and PCA, or the Implantable Nanopump™. It is intended for the accurate dosing of various therapeutic compounds with dedicated delivery profiles. Due to its high precision over wide range of conditions it offers tremendous flexibility and versatility in the design of a therapy.