Autotutorial for Peristaltic Pumps

How do they work?

Peristaltic pumps are positive displacement pumps utilizing flexible tubes full of liquid and a rotor. Positive displacement means that a set amount of flow rate will be delivered to the system regardless of the pressure on either side. As the rotor turns, it squeezes the flexible tubing, forcing a specific amount of fluid out of the pump.

Pump Speed

The rotor on the peristaltic pump sets the pump speed by how many revolutions per minute that the rotor will turn. We have two types of pumps we currently utilize, one can vary between 1-100 rpm and the other can operate at up to 600 rpm.

Flexible Tubing Sizes

For each tubing size, different pump speeds will correspond to different flow rates being output by the pump.

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What tubing size and pump speed would you use to acquire a flow rate of 500 mL/min? Keep in mind that you can use more than one pump head...

Working with Microbore Tubing

When working with pump tubing of small size (#13, #14, Orange-Yellow, and Yellow-Blue), it is necessary to use microbore tubing to hydraulically connect the pump to the experimental apparatus. The microbore tubing most commonly used in the lab is PTFE with OD of 1.6 mm (1/16") and ID of 0.8 mm (1/32"). This can be purchased at... In order to connect the microbore tubing to the peristaltic pump tubing, a barbed tube fitting sized  5463K36

Pump Calibration

ProCoDA has a pump calibration routine available on the configuration tab. The pump must be on and running (controlled by ProCoDA) in order to complete the calibration.

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