Tunable elastic fluidic resonant MEMS-type actuator

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan

^a e-mail: h.bardaweel@ju.edu.jo

Received: 23 September 2012
Revised: 22 January 2013
Accepted: 19 April 2013
Published online: 11 June 2013

Abstract

In this article, a MEMS-based elastic fluidic actuator is presented. The actuator is driven at its natural frequency. The actuator consists of a thin film of two-phase fluid squeezed between two thin membranes with the top membrane attached to an actuation arm. The top membrane represents the elastic component which deforms under applied pressure. The results show that generated force and displacement amplitude of actuation arm are enhanced for resonant operation. Natural frequency of the actuator is tuned through selection of different actuator components. For current actuator design, maximum generated force and displacement amplitude obtained are approximately 39 mN/W and 16 μm/W, respectively. Natural frequency of the actuator ranges between 110 Hz and over 1000 Hz. This resonant-type actuator is suitable for applications where large generated forces and displacements are needed, such as pumping fluid through micro channels, and providing translational and rotational motion needed in microfluidics systems.