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.
The peristaltic tubing sizes are rather arbitrary and are labeled by numbers: 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18 in increasing order of size. There is also 3-stop tubing available, which are color-coded based on their ID and must be used with 6-roller pump heads.
The table below gives you an idea of the flow rates that can be achieved by a peristaltic pump for different tubing sizes.
| Tubing Code | 13 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 3-Stop Tubing Yellow-Blue-Yellow | 3-Stop Tubing Purple-White-Purple | |
| RPM/ID (mm) | 0.8 | 1.6 | 3 | 6.3 | 8 | 1.52 | 2.79 | |
flow | 1 | 0.00100 | 0.00350 | 0.01333 | 0.04667 | 0.06333 | 0.0025 | 0.006167 |
| 100 | 0.10000 | 0.35000 | 1.33333 | 4.66667 | 6.33333 | 0.25 | 0.6166667 | |
| 600 | 0.60000 | 2.10000 | 8.00000 | 28.00000 | 38.00000 | - | - | |
| mL/rev | 0.06 | 0.21 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 0.025 | 0.06 |
From these charts, you can easily calculate a pump speed given a tubing number and flow rate. At the appropriate tubing number, divide the given flow rate by the flow rate at 1 rpm.
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...
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.