Peristaltic pump - china CP-60 Current Probe - 12PSB Test Bench manufacturer

Published: 28th July 2010
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Peristaltic pumps are typically used to pump clean/sterile or aggressive fluids, because cross contamination cannot occur. Some common applications include pumping IV fluids through an infusion device, aggressive chemicals, high solids slurries and other materials where isolation of the product from the environment, and the environment from the product, are critical. The peristaltic pump is the standard method for introducing liquids into the nebulizer on an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) or Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) unit.

Key Design Parameters

Chemical Compatibility

The pumped fluid contacts only the inside surface of the tubing. There are no other valves, O-rings, seals or packings to worry about in a peristaltic pump. Therefore, the only compatibility to worry about in a peristaltic pump is the tubes for the fluid being pumped. Of all the design parameters, the compatibility is the first one that need to be considered.

The tubing need to be elastomeric to maintain the circular cross section after millions of cycles of squeezing in the pump. This requirement eliminates a variety of non-elastomeric polymers that have compatibility with a wide range of chemicals, such as PTFE, polyolefins, PVDF etc. from consideration as material for pump tubing. The popular elastomers for pump tubing are silicone, PVC, EPDM+polypropylene (as in Santoprene), polyurethane and Neoprene. Of these materials, the EPDM+polypropylene (-prenes) have the best fatigue resistance and a wide range of chemical compatibility. Silicone is popular with water-based fluids, such as in Bio-pharma industry, but have limited range of chemical compatibility in other industries.

Extruded fluoroplymer tubes such as FKM (Viton, Fluorel, etc.) have good compatibility with acids, hydrocarbons, and petroleum fuels. But the material has poor fatigue resistance to get meaningful tube life that can be practical.

There are a couple of newer pump tubing developments that offer a broad chemical compatibility - a lined tubing approach and the use of fluoroelastomer approach.

Tubes like Chem-Durance, Pharmed, Pharma-Pure, Solve-Flex and Smart-Shield take the lined tubing approach, whereas CHEM-SURE and GORE High-Resilience Tubing Style 400 take the fluoroelastomer approach.

With the lined tubing, the thin inside liner is made of a chemically resistant material such as poly-olefin and PTFE that form a barrier for the rest of the tubing wall from coming in contact with the pumped fluid. These liners are materials that are not elastomeric, therefore the entire tube wall cannot be made with this material for peristaltic pump applications. These tubing provide adequate chemical compatibility and life to use them in chemically challenging applications. There are a few things to keep in mind when using these tubes - any pin holes in the liner during manufacturing could render the tubing vulnerable to chemical attack. In the case of stiff plastic liners like the polyolefins, with repeated flexing in the peristaltic pump they can develop cracks, rendering the bulk material again vulnerable to chemical attack. A common issue with all lined tubing is delamination of the liner with repeated flexing that signal the end of that tube life. For those with need for chemically compatible tubing, these lined tubing offer a good solution.


There are many online sites for checking the chemical compatibility of the tubing material with the pumped fluid. Two of them are:

http://www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/ChemComp.asp http://www.dupontelastomers.com/Tech_Info/chemical.asp





The minimum gap between the roller and the housing determines the maximum squeeze applied on the tubing. The amount of squeeze applied to the tubing affects pumping performance and the tube life - more squeezing decreases the tubing life dramatically, while less squeezing decreases the pumping efficiency, especially in high pressure pumping. Therefore, this amount of squeeze becomes an important design parameter.



y = occlusion

g = minimum gap between the roller and the housing

t = wall thickness of the tubing


y = 2 x t - g (when expressed as the absolute amount of squeeze)

y = (2 x t - g) / (2 x t) x 100 (when expressed as a percentage of twice the wall thickness)



Inside Diameter


Flow Rate

Flow rate is an important customer requirement. The flow rate in a peristaltic pump is determined by many factors, such as: 1. Tube ID - higher flow rate with larger ID 2. Length of tube in the pump measured from initial pinch point near the inlet to the final release point near the outlet - higher flow rate with longer length 3. Roller RPM - higher flow rate with higher RPM

Interestingly enough, increasing the number of rollers doesn't increase the flow rate, instead it may decrease the flow rate somewhat by reducing the volume of fluid between the initial pinch point and the final release point. Increasing rollers do tend to decrease the amplitude of the fluid pulsing at the outlet by increasing the frequency.


Hose pumps


The hoses in a hose pump are typically reinforced, resulting in a very thick wall. For a given ID the hoses have much bigger OD than a tubing for the roller pump. This thicker wall, combined with a stiffer material typically used in the hoses make the forces necessary to occlude the hose much greater than for the tubing. This results in a bigger pump and motor for a given flow rate with the hose pump than the roller pump, consuming more energy to run.

The biggest advantage with the hose pumps over the roller pumps is the high operating pressure of up to 16 bar. If the high operating pressure is not required, a tubing pump is a better option than a hose pump. With recent advances made in the tubing technology for pressure, life and chemical compatibility, as well as the higher flow rate ranges, the advantages that hose pumps had over roller pumps continues to erode.

Tube pumps

Lower pressure peristaltic pumps, typically have dry casings and use rollers, use non-reinforced, extruded tubing. This class of pump is sometimes called a "tube pump" or "tubing pump". These pumps employ rollers to squeeze the tube. Except for the 360 degree eccentric pump design as described below, these pumps have a minimum of 2 rollers 180 degrees apart, and may have as many as 8, or even 12 rollers. Increasing the number of rollers increase the frequency of the pumped fluid at the outlet, thereby decreasing the amplitude of pulsing. The downside to increasing number of rollers it that it proportionately increases number of squeezes, or occlusions, on the tubing for a given cumulative flow through that tube, thereby reducing the tubing life.

There are two kinds of roller design in peristaltic pumps:

1. Fixed occlusion - the rollers have a fixed locus as it turns, keeping the occlusion constant as it squeezes the tube. This is a simple, yet effective design. The only downside to this design is that the occlusion as a percent on the tube varies with the variation of the tube wall thickness. Typically the wall thickness of the extruded tubes vary enough that the % occlusion can vary with the wall thickness (see above). Therefore, a tubing at the high end of the wall thickness, but within the accepted tolerance, will have higher % occlusion, increasing the wear on it, thereby decreasing the tube life. The tube wall thickness tolerances today are kept pretty tight that this is not much of a practical issue. For those mechanically inclined, this may be the constant strain operation.

2. Spring loaded rollers - As the name indicates, the rollers are mounted on a spring. This design is a bit more elaborate than the fixed occlusion, but helps overcome the variations in the tube wall thickness over a broader range. Irrespective of the variations, the roller imparts the same amount of stress on the tubing that is proportional to the spring constant, making this a constant stress operation. The spring is selected to overcome not only the hoop strength of the tubing, but also the pressure of the pumped fluid.

The operating pressure of these pumps is determined by the tubing, and the motor's ability to overcome the hoop strength of the tubing and the pressure.

360 Degree eccentric design

A unique approach to peristaltic hose pump design employs a single oversized roller on an eccentric shaft that compresses an engineered, low friction hose through 360 degrees of rotation. The benefits of this design include more flow per revolution and only one compression and expansion per cycle. At equal performance points this pump runs more slowly, with consequent longer hose lifetime, than pumps with multiple shoes or rollers.

Many older hose pumps use shoes to compress the hose. When the shoe slides over the outside of the hose, it creates friction and heat, which shortens hose life. A single roller pump uses a large diameter lubricated roller on an eccentric shaft that rolls over the hose. This means that it produces less friction, and therefore less heat, than a pump with shoes.

In addition to less heat, an eccentric shaft hose pump functions with only a single compression of the hose per revolution. For every one rotation, the pump has one compression of the hose, while pumps with multiple shoes or rollers have at least two compressions per revolution, and in some cases three or four. Since the hose is the heart of a peristaltic hose pump, and hose life is inversely proportional to the number of squeezes, this design will outperform a pump with shoes at the same speed.

The hose in this type of pump takes up the full 360 degrees of the pump housing. This is important, because at an equal size, this design will produce 55% more flow at the same speed. This means that one can get more flow at the same pump speed, or run the pump more slowly to generate the same flow.


Because the only part of the pump in contact with the fluid being pumped is the interior of the tube, it is easy to sterilize and clean the inside surfaces of the pump. Furthermore, since there are no moving parts in contact with the fluid, peristaltic pumps are inexpensive to manufacture. Their lack of valves, seals and glands makes them comparatively inexpensive to maintain, and the use of a hose or tube makes for a relatively low-cost maintenance item compared to other pump types. Peristaltic pumps also minimize shear forces experienced by the fluid, which may help to keep colloids and slurry fluids from separating.



Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Silicone rubber


Trade names include Tygon, Viton, Pharmed, Norprene, Marprene, Bioprene, STA-PURE, CHEM-SURE, GORE High-Resilience Tubing, Neoprene, Fluorel, Pumpsil-D and Pumpsil.

Example of tube being changed on a peristaltic pump.


^ www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/techinfo.asp?htmlfile=PPumps_AmyE.htm&ID=580 ]].

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Typical applications

Dialysis machines

Open-heart bypass pump machines

Infusion pump


Sewage sludge

Aquariums, particularly calcium reactors

Analytical chemistry experiments

Carbon monoxide monitors (e.g., at Longannet power station)


Food manufacturing

Beverage dispensing



Construction - pumping cement

Pharmaceutical production

OEM applications

Print and packaging

Paint and pigments

Pulp and paper

Science and research

Water and Waste

'Sapsucker' pumps to apply vacuum to maple trees to enhance sap extraction and pump the sap to the evaporator

Liquid food fountains

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