Novel electrothermal bimorph actuator for large out-of-plane displacement and force

This paper presents a novel concept and experimental validation of an electrothermal bimorph structure for out-of-plane actuation that exploits the polymer constraint effect. The proposed concept is capable of generating large out-of-plane displacements and forces at a low driving voltage and a low...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wei, J., Duc, T.C., Lau, G.K., Sarro, P.M.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuators
Displacement measurement
Electrical resistance measurement
Electrothermal effects
Energy consumption
Force measurement
Low voltage
Polymers
Power measurement
Temperature measurement
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Summary:This paper presents a novel concept and experimental validation of an electrothermal bimorph structure for out-of-plane actuation that exploits the polymer constraint effect. The proposed concept is capable of generating large out-of-plane displacements and forces at a low driving voltage and a low actuation temperature. A downward displacement up to 31 mum is measured at only 5 V driving voltage and 46 mW power consumption. The actuator stiffness is measured to be 75 N/m, thus the corresponding calculated out-of-plane force is 2.3 mN. The maximum actuation temperature during the measurement is 100degC (80degC change). A 25 Hz response frequency is measured by monitoring the resistance change due to the temperature variation.
ISSN:1084-6999
DOI:10.1109/MEMSYS.2008.4443589