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Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are the instruments of choice for high-precision manipulation and sensing processes at the microscale. They are, therefore, a subject of interest in many leading industrial and academic research sectors owing to their superior potential in applications requiring...

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Autores principales: Sciberras, Thomas, Demicoli, Marija, Grech, Ivan, Mallia, Bertram, Mollicone, Pierluigi, Sammut, Nicholas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8781855/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35056172
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13010008
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author Sciberras, Thomas
Demicoli, Marija
Grech, Ivan
Mallia, Bertram
Mollicone, Pierluigi
Sammut, Nicholas
author_facet Sciberras, Thomas
Demicoli, Marija
Grech, Ivan
Mallia, Bertram
Mollicone, Pierluigi
Sammut, Nicholas
author_sort Sciberras, Thomas
collection PubMed
description Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are the instruments of choice for high-precision manipulation and sensing processes at the microscale. They are, therefore, a subject of interest in many leading industrial and academic research sectors owing to their superior potential in applications requiring extreme precision, as well as in their use as a scalable device. Certain applications tend to require a MEMS device to function with low operational temperatures, as well as within fully immersed conditions in various media and with different flow parameters. This study made use of a V-shaped electrothermal actuator to demonstrate a novel, state-of-the-art numerical methodology with a two-way coupled analysis. This methodology included the effects of fluid–structure interaction between the MEMS device and its surrounding fluid and may be used by MEMS design engineers and analysts at the design stages of their devices for a more robust product. Throughout this study, a thermal–electric finite element model was strongly coupled to a finite volume model to incorporate the spatially varying cooling effects of the surrounding fluid (still air) onto the V-shaped electrothermal device during steady-state operation. The methodology was compared to already established and accepted analysis methods for MEMS electrothermal actuators in still air. The maximum device temperatures for input voltages ranging from 0 V to 10 V were assessed. During the postprocessing routine of the two-way electrothermal actuator coupled analysis, a spatially-varying heat transfer coefficient was evident, the magnitude of which was orders of magnitude larger than what is typically applied to macro-objects operating in similar environmental conditions. The latter phenomenon was correlated with similar findings in the literature.
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spelling pubmed-87818552022-01-22 Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators Sciberras, Thomas Demicoli, Marija Grech, Ivan Mallia, Bertram Mollicone, Pierluigi Sammut, Nicholas Micromachines (Basel) Article Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are the instruments of choice for high-precision manipulation and sensing processes at the microscale. They are, therefore, a subject of interest in many leading industrial and academic research sectors owing to their superior potential in applications requiring extreme precision, as well as in their use as a scalable device. Certain applications tend to require a MEMS device to function with low operational temperatures, as well as within fully immersed conditions in various media and with different flow parameters. This study made use of a V-shaped electrothermal actuator to demonstrate a novel, state-of-the-art numerical methodology with a two-way coupled analysis. This methodology included the effects of fluid–structure interaction between the MEMS device and its surrounding fluid and may be used by MEMS design engineers and analysts at the design stages of their devices for a more robust product. Throughout this study, a thermal–electric finite element model was strongly coupled to a finite volume model to incorporate the spatially varying cooling effects of the surrounding fluid (still air) onto the V-shaped electrothermal device during steady-state operation. The methodology was compared to already established and accepted analysis methods for MEMS electrothermal actuators in still air. The maximum device temperatures for input voltages ranging from 0 V to 10 V were assessed. During the postprocessing routine of the two-way electrothermal actuator coupled analysis, a spatially-varying heat transfer coefficient was evident, the magnitude of which was orders of magnitude larger than what is typically applied to macro-objects operating in similar environmental conditions. The latter phenomenon was correlated with similar findings in the literature. MDPI 2021-12-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8781855/ /pubmed/35056172 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13010008 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sciberras, Thomas
Demicoli, Marija
Grech, Ivan
Mallia, Bertram
Mollicone, Pierluigi
Sammut, Nicholas
Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators
title Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators
title_full Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators
title_fullStr Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators
title_full_unstemmed Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators
title_short Coupled Finite Element-Finite Volume Multi-Physics Analysis of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators
title_sort coupled finite element-finite volume multi-physics analysis of mems electrothermal actuators
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8781855/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35056172
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13010008
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