The fabrication and characterisation of a double-arm cantilever-type metallic DC-contact MEMS actuator with low pull-down voltage are reported. Bi-layer TiW cantilevers with an internal stress gradient were fabricated using a microwave-compatible fabrication process. Owing to its small size, cantilever length (L 1⁄4 5–50 mm) and width (W 1⁄4 2–40 mm), i.e. 10–100 times smaller in lateral dimens...

As MEMS transducers are scaled up in size, the threshold is quickly crossed to where magnetoquasistatic (MQS) transducers are superior for force production compared to electroquasistatic (EQS) transducers. Considerable progress has been made increasing the force output of MEMS EQS transducers, but progress with MEMS MQS transducers has been more modest. A key reason for this has been the diffic...

This paper proposes a magnetic actuator system of a new type capable of inspection in a complex pipe by means of a new motion principle. Using plural vibration components, the magnetic actuator is able to move in the complex pipe. A magnetic actuator of the reversible type, due to opening and closing of a compound material by using elongation and contraction of four shape-memory-alloy (SMA) coi...

The Casimir attraction can significantly interfere the physical response of nanoactuators. The intensity of the Casimir force depends on the geometries of interacting bodies. The present paper is dedicated to model the influence of the Casimir attraction on the electrostatic stability of nanoactuators made of cylindrical conductive nanowire/nanotube. An asymptotic solution, based on path-integr...

the technique used to control the airflow is based on the electro-hydrodynamic actuator which is also called plasma actuator. this actuator ensures the airflow control thanks to the electric wind created by the electrical corona discharge. this ionic wind is developed at the profile surface tangential to the initial free airflow so that it has a significant effect on the boundary layer flow. th...

This paper presents a new type of muscle-like actuator, namely double-acting (DA) sleeve muscle actuator, which is suitable for the actuation of biologically-inspired and biomedical robotic systems, especially those serving human-assistance purposes (prostheses, orthoses, etc.). Developed based on the traditional pneumatic muscle actuator, the new DA sleeve muscle incorporates a unique insert a...

Deformable mirrors fabricated using microelectromechanical systems technology (MEMS-DMs) have been studied at Boston University (BU) and developed/commercialized by Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC) over the past decade. Recent advances that might have an impact on surveillance telescopes include demonstration of 4092 actuator DMs with continuous mirror face-sheets, and segmented DMs capab...

The design and fabrication of a piezoelectric micro actuator on a silicon diaphragm is presented for application of micro ink jet. We developed the micro devices for the fluid transference that are fabricated using thick film technologies for ceramic materials and Si micro-machining. The performance of drop ejection was shown from the optimal design parameters. It is closely related to the prec...

A novel electrostatic inchworm microactuator, which employs both a built-in mechanical transformation and a large number of contraction units to generate large force and sub-micrometer resolution step, is presented. The actuator is fabricated in a single polysilicon device layer using a trench isolation technology. The entire actuator, including the clamps and the contraction element, fits in a...