• KIEE International Transactions on Electrophysics and Applications
• /
• 제4C권4호
• /
• pp.137-141
• /
• 2004

In this paper, a thermopneumatic PMDS (polydimethlysiloxane) micropump with nozzle/diffuser elements is presented. The micropump is composed of nozzle/diffuser elements as dynamic valves, an actuator consisting of a circular PDMS diaphragm and a Cr/Au heater on a glass substrate. Four PDMS layers are used for fabrication of an actuator chamber, actuator diaphragm by a spin coating process, spacer layer, and nozzle/diffuser by the SU-8 molding process. The radius and thickness of the actuator diaphragm is 2 mm and 30 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, respectively. The length and the conical angle of the nozzle/diffuser elements are 3.5 mm and 20$^{\circ}$, respectively. The actuator diaphragm is driven by the air cavity pressure variation caused by ohmic heating and natural cooling. The flow rate of the micropump in the frequency domain is measured for various duty cycles of the square wave input voltage. When the square wave input voltage of 5 V DC is applied to the heater, the maximum flow rate of the micropump is 44.6 ${mu}ell$/min at 100 Hz with a duty ratio of 80% under the zero pressure difference.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국신재생에너지학회 2006년도 추계학술대회
• /
• pp.425-428
• /
• 2006

Recently, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) for portable devices has been received much attention because DMFC has a possibility of higher energy density than electrical batteries and smaller size than other fuel cells. This paper presents the fabrication and test of a thermopneumatic microactuator with a phase change for DMFC. A microactuator consists of an inlet an outlet a chamber, a heater and a sensor of resistance temperature detector(RTD). The micoractuator is fabricated by the spin-coating process, the lithograph process, the deep RIE process and so on. The total size of microactuator is $20{\times}20{\times}0.53mm^3$. When the current is applied, the heater heats liquid in chamber. As a result the liquid vaporizes. The response of temperature in the chamber was measured using thermocouple The changed temperature is $3^{\circ}C$ for 5 sec at 0.032W.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
• /
• 제34권6호
• /
• pp.599-606
• /
• 2010

본 연구에서는 다양한 작동조건(인가전압, 주파수)에 대하여 박막의 두께와 챔버의 직경이 열공압형 마이크로펌프의 액추에이터 박막의 거동 특성에 미치는 영향을 실험적으로 파악하기 위해 다양한 박막 두께와 챔버직경의 액추에이터를 제작하였다. 액추에이터는 파이렉스 표면에 위치한 마이크로히터, 챔버, 그리고 박막으로 구성된다. 모든 인가전압에 대하여 주파수가 10 Hz 이하로 감소함에 따라 박막 중앙의 최대 변위는 박막의 두께와 챔버의 직경에 관계없이 크게 증가한다. 낮은 주파수 영역에서 챔버로 공급되는 열량이 증가함에 따라 박막 중앙의 변위는 박막의 두께가 얇을수록, 챔버의 직경이 작을수록 증가한다. 10 Hz 이상의 주파수 영역에서 박막 두께, 챔버 직경, 공급 열량과 같은 모든 설계 변수가 박막 중앙의 변위에 미치는 영향은 미미하다.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.649-654
• /
• 2005

This paper presents fabrication and drive test of a peristaltic PDMS micropump actuated by the thermopneumatic force. The micropump consists of the three peristaltic-type actuator chambers with microheaters on the glass substrate and a microchannel connecting the chambers and the inlet/outlet port. The micropump is fabricated by the spin-coating process, the two-step curing process, the JSR (negative PR) molding process, and etc. The diameter and the thickness of the actuator diaphragm are 2.5 mm and $30{\mu}m$, respectively. The meniscus motion in the capillary tube is observed with a video camera and the flow rate of the micro pump is calculated through the frame analysis of the recorded video data. The maximum flow rate of the micropump is about $0.36\;{\mu}L/sec$ at 2 Hz for the zero hydraulic pressure difference when the 3-phase input voltage is 20 V.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한기계학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회A
• /
• pp.1433-1438
• /
• 2007

Characteristics of a phase change type micro actuator have been studied. The micro actuator has been designed for a micro-pump in an active direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC), consisting of an actuating chamber, a membrane, an electric heater, and a sensor of resistance temperature detector (RTD). In the present study, researches have been focused on the response of the actuator to control algorithm of the heater. The experiments demonstrated that the displacement of the membrane increase with temperature variation which is a function of applied voltage, duty ratio, and operating frequency of heating. The results also showed that operation of the actuator with high voltage at small duty of heating is more efficient than the same power consumption of heating with low voltage at large duty.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• 제16권1호
• /
• pp.22-28
• /
• 2012

We report a focal-length tunable liquid lens based on thermopneumatically driven fluidic pressure. The fluidic pressure is generated by deformation of an elastomeric diaphragm induced by thermopneumaticity from a laterally integrated microheater sealed within an air chamber. The pressure is transmitted by a confined liquid to a lens diaphragm through an internal fluid channel. The liquid filling under the lens diaphragm functions as a liquid lens for dynamic focusing with properties depending on the curvature of the deformed diaphragm. The diaphragm area of the air chamber is designed five times larger than that of the lens cavity to yield high focal-length tunability by amplified deflection of the lens diaphragm. With our method, we achieved excellent focal-length tunability from infinity (without an input current) to 4 mm (with an input current of 12 mA) with a lens aperture diameter of 2 mm.

• 대한전기학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한전기학회 1996년도 하계학술대회 논문집 C
• /
• pp.1960-1962
• /
• 1996

A thermopneumatic micropump with two micronozzles has been fabricated and tested. The actuator consists of a p+ diaphragm and a pyrex glass on which a microheater is deposited. Two micronozzles are fabricated on either side of a single silicon wafer and behave as a dynamic passive valves. The actuator and the micronozzle are assembled to make a micropump. The center deflection of the actuator diaphragm to step voltage input has been measured. The dynamic test hag been performed by measuring the center deflection of the diaphragm under various input voltages and duty ratios. Also dynamic pumping test is performed. The measured built-up pressure between inlet and outlet of the micropump is 80 Pa for the actuation at 20V, 10 Hz.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국정밀공학회 2005년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
• /
• pp.615-618
• /
• 2005

All over the world, many kinds of micro-actuators were already developed for various applications. The actuators are using various principles such as electromagnetic, piezoelectric and thermopneumatic etc. The most of the micro-actuators have been made using 2D based MEMS technology. In these actuators, it is difficult to drive 3-dimensional motion. This characteristic gives the limit of actuator application. However, micro-stereolithography technology has made it possible to fabricate freeform three-dimensional microstructures. In this technology, 2-dimensional micro-shape layer is cumulated on the other layers. This layer-by-layer process is the main principle to fabricate 3-dimensioal micro-structures. In this research, a micro-bellows actuator that is vertically moving was developed using the micro-stereolithography technology. When pressure was applied into the bellows, a non-contact actuating motion is generated. For actuation experiment, syringe pump and laser interferometer were used for applying pressure and measuring the displacement. Several hundreds micro-scale actuation was observed. And, to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed actuation principle, in this research, a micro-gripper was developed using half-bellows structure.