Wearable fiber fluidic pumps

Conventional wearable fluidics require rigid/soft miniature pumps as a pressure source, which have intrinsic shortcomings, including noise and vibration for rigid pumps and low power density for soft pumps, hence limiting their application in wearables. Fiber-based fluidic pumps are promising for wearables but remain little explored because of the lack of fiber-based active fluidic components that can be integrated into textiles. Very recently, a Science work reported a fluidic pump in the form of a fiber. Specifically, as the authors stated, the pump is a flexible and stretchable tube, with a several-millimeter diameter, that can generate continuous fluid flow without any moving parts or vibration. Conventional wearable fluidics require rigid/soft miniature pumps as a pressure source, which have intrinsic shortcomings, including noise and vibration for rigid pumps and low power density for soft pumps, hence limiting their application in wearables. Fiber-based fluidic pumps are promising for wearables but remain little explored because of the lack of fiber-based active fluidic components that can be integrated into textiles. Very recently, a Science work reported a fluidic pump in the form of a fiber. Specifically, as the authors stated, the pump is a flexible and stretchable tube, with a several-millimeter diameter, that can generate continuous fluid flow without any moving parts or vibration.