Syringe infusion pump with absolute piston displacement control

A vast majority of syringe pumps operate on stepper motors, which limits their effectiveness for precision fluid delivery using estimation algorithms. Such a system also hampers the ability to ascertain if the infusion or aspiration instruction has been correctly carried out in the event of power interruptions. To address this issue, a linear servo based actuator system is described to provide absolute indications of the plunger position. System performance in terms of linearity and reliability of plunger translation were verified using a camera tracking system with syringe capacities ranging from 3 to 50 ml and at syringe plunger speeds ranging from 1 to 6.6 mm/s when distilled water was used as the medium. In investigations involving more viscous liquids, the system revealed similarly linear characteristics with 50% glycerol-water (v/v), but cyclical stick-slip behavior with Freund's adjuvant.