Transdermal drug delivery using hollow microneedle enable creating
small, wearable and minimally invasive closed-loop drug delivery
system. The individual components are commonly made of silicon and
are assembled to create the system leading to increased cost and
footprint. A system which integrates the reservoir, micropump and the
needles within a small footprint at a low cost is the need of the hour.
The previous presentation focused on design, fabrication and
characterization of a SU-8 based polymer hollow microneedle array.
Now we present an improved version of the array along with skin
penetration testing of the improved array using a skin simulant. All the
designs considered are able to successfully penetrate a skin simulant
with triangular body needles requiring the least force to penetrate the
skin while having a higher factor of safety. We also present the design,
fabrication and characterization of a polymer based, 3D printed, piezo
actuated valveless micropump. The pumps have an integrated reservoir
to store the drugs and have a small footprint compared to existing
solutions. The developed pump shows a maximum flowrate of 7.33
mL/min and maximum backpressure at no flow of 442 Pa at an
operating voltage of 50 V rms and a frequency of 320Hz.