蠕动泵也叫恒流泵或软管泵，其机械运行原理十分简单。因为它的运行方式是通过对泵管进行交替重复的机械挤压和释放来泵送流体的。之所以叫蠕动泵，也是因为其泵管的运动方式就象一条蠕动的虫子一样移动，蠕动泵就是将软管装卡在机械转子和定子之间，以此达到泵送流体的目的。（见图1）蠕动泵工作时，在两个滚轮之间的一段泵管会形成泵室，泵室的大小取决于泵管的内径和转子的尺寸（见图2、图3、图4）。蠕动泵的理论流量为泵室的容积，拿回转直径相同的泵相比较，产生较大泵室的泵，其转子每转一圈所输送的流体容积也较大，但产生的脉冲也较大。相反，产生较小泵室的泵，其转子每转一圈所输送的流体容积也较小，但产生的脉冲也较小，但快速、连续的泵送可以非常理想地降低脉冲，因此，在一些小流量、要求非常小的脉冲场合，泵头的选择就显得非常关键。
Peristaltic pump also known as constant flow pump or hose pump, its mechanical operation principle is very simple. Because its operation mode is to pump fluid through the mechanical extrusion and release of the pump pipe alternately. The reason why it is called peristaltic pump is also because its pump pipe moves like a worm. Peristaltic pump is to install the hose between the mechanical rotor and stator, so as to achieve the purpose of pumping fluid. (see Fig. 1) when the peristaltic pump works, a section of pump pipe between the two rollers will form a pump chamber. The size of the pump chamber depends on the inner diameter of the pump pipe and the size of the rotor (see Fig. 2, Fig. 3, FIG. 4). The theoretical flow rate of peristaltic pump is the volume of pump chamber. Compared with the pump with the same rotary diameter, the pump with larger pump chamber will deliver larger volume of fluid per revolution of rotor, but the pulse generated is also larger. On the contrary, for the pump with smaller pump chamber, the fluid volume delivered by each revolution of its rotor is also small, but the pulse generated is also small. However, rapid and continuous pumping can reduce the pulse perfectly. Therefore, the selection of pump head is very important in some small flow and very small pulse requirements.