| From a review of the state of the art in electrostatic actuation, it can be concluded, that the electrical field is the most promising actuation in microsystems and there are many more ways to use it for actuation than comb-drives and digital parallel-plate actuators. So far, mostly single electrostatic effects have been investigated, except for unavoidable interactions such as the pull-in effect. Reasons for this may be the simple and one-dimensional design of a discrete effect, the preferred synthesis of complex motion path from cascaded simple actuators, the complexity of electrical field interactions and resulting cross-sensitivities and the almost separated research in the “dry” domain of MEMS and the “wet” domain of microfluidics.This project intends to combine different actuation effects of the electrical field on solids and liquids in a single actuator concept based on a freely moving platform with liquid bearing. It addresses long-scale movements as well as the precise micropositioning. It aims for a deeper understanding of the coupling of different effects as solid capacitors and liquid dielectrics are located in the same varying electrical fields. “Digital” as well as precisely controllable effects are found among electrostatic actuation as well as multi-stable concepts. Inherent sensing of the actual location by investigating differential capacitor pairs. The actuator electrodes are suitable for this purpose, e.g. by high-frequency, low-voltage sampling of the capacity. In the first phase, a demonstrator device combining four different effects is planned. Additionally, it uses liquid bearings replacing a classical spring and combines “dry” and “wet” electrostatic effects, including an overall control concept taking the specific cross-sensitivities into account. For this reason, this project is a cooperation of a MEMS group and a control group.In the second phase, an extension into further degrees of freedom and the integration of alternative acutation effects is intended. |
Professor Dr.-Ing. Christoph Ament Institut für Informatik Telefon: +49 821 598 – 3342 E-Mail: www.informatik.uni-augsburg.de
Professor Dr.-Ing. Martin Hoffmann Ruhr-Universität Bochum Telefon: +49 234 3227700 |
