Modelling and experimental verification of heat dissipation mechanisms in an SU-8 electrothermal microgripper

Solano, Belen; Merrell, James H.; Gallant, Andrew J.; Wood, David

doi:10.1016/j.mee.2014.06.002

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…In other work reported previously, we have modelled and experimentally verified the heat loss mechanism in the microgripper [16], performed further heat loss studies in different ambient gases over a range of pressures [17] and demonstrated the use of the microgripper in holding a cell while simultaneously being able to detect and quantify the excretion of potassium ions using an ion specific electrode fabricated as an integral part of the structure [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

The static and dynamic response of SU-8 electrothermal microgrippers of varying thickness

Dodd

Ward

Cooke

et al. 2015

Microelectronic Engineering

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Publisher's copyright statement: NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in the Journal of microelectronic engineering. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be re ected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A de nitive version was subsequently published in the Journal of microelectronic engineering, 145, 2015, 10.1016/j.mee.2015.03.028 Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThis work presents an investigation into the effect on dynamic response of SU-8 microgrippers due to varying thickness, and subsequent validation via COMSOL Multiphysics simulations and thermal camera profiling during actuation. The tweezer-like microgrippers can easily manipulate, with a high degree of control, cells and particles with diameters as small as 10 µm, without using an impractical operating voltage or generating excessive heat. However, in order to fully exploit the versatility of the devices, their response characteristics must be fully understood as material and/or dimension parameters change. Therefore an investigation took place to determine the effects of device thickness on functionality of the device, including the drive current required to actuate the gripper and the speed of actuation. Furthermore, an infrared camera was used to characterize the thermal response of the device. Finally, a simulation of the temperature profile and deflection dimension has been developed in order to verify the findings and further investigate and predict the effects of design variations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

The static and dynamic response of SU-8 electrothermal microgrippers of varying thickness

Dodd

Ward

Cooke

et al. 2015

Microelectronic Engineering

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“…For silicon materials, both the coherence length and wavelength are at the nanoscale, whereas the feature size of the electrothermal microgripper is at the micron scale and larger than the coherence length and wavelength. Therefore, the continuous medium hypothesis is still applicable to heat radiation, as is the classical radiation transport model Stefan-Boltzmann law [ 18 ].…”

Section: Analysis Of the Heat Transfer Mechanism And Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat Transfer Scale Effect Analysis and Parameter Measurement of an Electrothermal Microgripper

Lin

Xue

et al. 2021

Micromachines

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An electrothermal microgripper is an important actuator in microelectromechanical and micro-operating systems, and its temperature field analysis is the core problem in research and design. Because of the small size of an electrothermal microgripper, its microscale heat transfer characteristics are different from those of the macrostate. At present, only a few studies on the heat transfer scale effect in electrothermal microgrippers have been conducted, and the heat transfer analysis method under the macrostate is often used directly. The temperature field analysed and simulated is different from the actual situation. In the present study, the heat transfer mechanism of an electrothermal microgripper in the microscale was analysed. The temperature field of a series of microscale heating devices was measured using microthermal imaging equipment, and the heat transfer parameters of the microscale were fitted. Results show that the natural convective heat transfer coefficient of air on the microscale can reach 60–300 times that on the macroscale, which is an important heat transfer mode affecting the temperature field distribution of the electrothermal microgripper. Combined with the finite element simulation software, the temperature field of the electrothermal microgripper could be accurately simulated using the experimental microscale heat transfer parameters measured. This study provides an important theoretical basis and data support for the optimal design of the temperature controller of the electrothermal microgripper.

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“…In other words, large output forces can be produced by applying relatively low voltages (below 10 V) [13,14]. Electrothermal actuators have been widely deployed for microgripping applications [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and Design Enhancement of Electrothermal Actuators for Microgripping Applications

Pour,

Ghommem,

Abdelkefi

2023

Applied Sciences

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Microgrippers are miniature tools that have the capability to handle and manipulate micro- and nano-scale objects. The present work demonstrates the potential impact of the incorporation of perforations on a ‘hot and cold arm’ electrothermal actuation mechanism in order to improve the operation of microgrippers in terms of arm opening and operating temperature. By applying a voltage to one arm and setting the other as a ground, the current passes through the electrothermal actuator and induces its displacement along the in-plane direction. The difference in the geometry of the two arms causes one arm to expand more than the other and this results in transverse bending. A computational model was developed using a finite element analysis tool to simulate the response of the thermal actuators with varying geometries and investigate the impact of incorporating perforations on the arms of the thermal actuators to enhance its performance in terms of deflection and operating temperature. The simulation results were compared to their experimental counterparts reported in the literature. A good agreement between the numerical and experimental data was obtained. A novel design of a microgripper, made of perforated electrothermal actuators, was introduced. Its main characteristics, including the tip opening of the gripper arms, the applied voltage, and the stress and temperature distributions, were analyzed using the developed computational model. Different perforation shape and distribution were investigated. The present study demonstrates the capability of perforations to enhance the operation of microgrippers as manifested by the obtained higher tip displacement and lower tip temperature in comparison to conventional microgripper designs made of non-perforated thermal actuators. Furthermore, the highest stress generated on the microgripper elements was found to be much lower than the yield strength of the constituent material, which indicates proper functioning without any mechanical failure.

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Modelling and experimental verification of heat dissipation mechanisms in an SU-8 electrothermal microgripper

Cited by 10 publications

References 13 publications

The static and dynamic response of SU-8 electrothermal microgrippers of varying thickness

The static and dynamic response of SU-8 electrothermal microgrippers of varying thickness

Heat Transfer Scale Effect Analysis and Parameter Measurement of an Electrothermal Microgripper

Modeling and Design Enhancement of Electrothermal Actuators for Microgripping Applications

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