Actuators 2012, 1(1), 21-35; doi:10.3390/act1010021
Comprehensive Thermal Modeling of ElectroThermoElastic Microstructures
The University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute, Fort Worth, TX 76118, USA
Received: 3 May 2012 / Revised: 16 August 2012 / Accepted: 17 August 2012 / Published: 24 August 2012
Abstract
Bent and folded beam configurations have been popularly used in electrothermoelastic (E-T) actuation. This paper introduces new designs of thermal end-effector with micro-grasping and micro-heating capabilities. We obtained analytical models for all possible steady state temperature responses of suspended and overhanging microstructures that constitute bent beam, folded beam, and combined actuators. Generally, the thermal response of E-T microstructures is sensitive to the boundary conditions, particularly for high power input. Thermal models have predicted the failure due to melting, which is the most common reason for failure of E-T devices, and it often occurs in the longest and the thinnest microstructure.Keywords:
electrothermal modeling; MEMS; micro grasper; end-effector
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).
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Mayyas, M. Comprehensive Thermal Modeling of ElectroThermoElastic Microstructures. Actuators 2012, 1, 21-35.
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