We demonstrate an active, implantable drug delivery device embedded with a microfluidic pump that is driven by a radio-controlled actuator for temporal drug delivery. The polyimide-packaged 10 × 10 × 2 mm(3) chip contains a micromachined pump chamber and check valves of Parylene C to force the release of the drug from a 76 μL reservoir by wirelessly activating the actuator using external radio-...

A low-power, non-thermal, ultrasonic deicing system is introduced as a potential deicing system for helicopter rotor blades that are currently being used. In this research effort, ultrasonic actuator disks excite isotropic plates and airfoil-shaped structures that are representative of helicopter leading edge protection caps. The system generates delaminating ultrasonic transverse shear stresse...

Arrays of electrostatic MEMS actuators have been fabricated using a multi-layer SCREAM (Single-Crystal Reactive Etching and Metallization) process. The high aspect ratio single-crystal silicon (SCS) devices consist of released, torsionally suspended grids with tips. Experiments and calculations show that the actuator array is strong enough to move macroscopic parts. An individual actuator can g...

Actuator materials can directly convert different types of energy into mechanical energy. In this work, we designed and fabricated electrothermal air pump-type actuators by utilization of various nanostructured carbon materials, including single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), reduced graphene oxide (r-GO), and graphene oxide (GO)/SWCNT hybrid films as heating elements to transfer electrical st...

Micromanipulation is a key task to perform serial assembly of MEMS. The two-fingered microgrippers are usable but require specific studies to be able to work in the microworld. In this paper, we propose a new microgripping system where actuators and the end-effectors of the gripper are fabricated separately. End-effectors can thus be adapted to the manipulated micro-objects without new design a...

Fully 3D-printed smart structures have attracted a lot of research interest; new technologies, materials, and methods for functional such as sensors, actuators, generators, batteries are being researched. Recently, fully 3D-printed, dynamic dielectric actuator fabricated in single process with multi-material thermoplastic filament extrusion was presented. However, the effects design parameters ...

Title of thesis: MEMS CONVEYANCE: PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATOR ARRAYS FOR RECONFIGURABLE RF CIRCUITS Mary Claire Tellers, Master of Science 2015 Thesis directed by: Professor Sarah Bergbreiter Department of Mechanical Engineering An array of piezoelectric cantilevers was designed, fabricated, and characterized for use as a micromanipulation surface in a reconfigurable RF circuit microfactory. The pro...

Unlike conventional rigid actuators, soft robotic technologies possess inherent compliance, so they can stretch and twist along every axis without the need for articulated joints. This compliance is exploited here using dielectric elastomer membranes to develop a novel six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) polymer actuator that unifies ordinarily separate components into a simple cubic structure. This...

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication, and testing of a moving magnet actuator (MMA) for large range (∼10mm) nanopositioning. MMAs are direct-drive, single-phase electromagnetic linear actuators that provide frictionless and backlashfree motion. These qualities, along with an adequate motion range, make MMAs promising candidates for large range nanopositioning. In this work, we iden...