An All-InkJet Printed Bending Actuator with Embedded Sensing Feature and an Electromagnetic Driving Mechanism

Abstract

Abstract:Bending actuators are key elements in many application fields. This paper presents an InkJet Printed actuator embedding an electromagnetic driving mechanism and a resistive sensing strategy. The lateral actuation range of the device is in the order of few millimeters, while it can exert forces in the order up to 375 µN. A deep characterization of the device is presented which reveals good performance of the lab-scale prototype developed both in the static and dynamic regime. In particular, the responsivity is found to be a function of the magnetic field used to actuate the beam. Specifically, responsivities of 43.5ˆ10´3 m/A, 28.3ˆ10´3 m/A and 19.5ˆ10´3 m/A have been estimated in the static condition in the case of magnetic fields of 98.8 mT, 70.6 mT and 37.1 mT, respectively, while at the resonance frequency of 4.1 Hz the responsivity is 51ˆ10´3 m/A in case of a magnetic field of 37.1 mT.

Polymeric Transducers: An Inkjet Printed B-Field Sensor with Resistive Readout Strategy

“…Having in mind the magnetic fluxes produced by a permanent magnet, just a part of it is useful to the sensor functionality: the ones parallel to the coil current plane. Although the magnetic stray field of the permanent magnet tends to quickly decay during the sensor oscillations, considering the small deflection of the sensor compared to the steady-state [30], its effect has not been fully investigated and hence, has been neglected in this modeling phase.…”

“…A preliminary investigation on this type of sensor is given in [30,31] where both the electrical and physical characteristics have been determined. Nevertheless, main novelties compared to the cited work are described in the following: (1) Description of the sensor mathematical model; (2) Computation of the sensor responsivity; (3) Model results compensation for the effect of tolerances in the device geometry and technology.…”

“…The dependence on the conductor orientation has been omitted since we assume its effect is negligible at this modeling phase for the overall sensor model. This choice comes from previous results [30] where it has been demonstrated that the maximum beam deflection, and hence the maximum angle variation between current and target magnetic field, does not affect “very much” the model output (compared with the experimental measures). This point will be clarified in Section 3.…”

3D bioprinting of functional tissue models for personalized drug screening and in vitro disease modeling

“…In the piezoelectric method, droplets are produced by the pulse pressure generated from a piezoelectric actuator [111]. The electromagnetic approach is based on electromagnetic principles including Lorentz force and permanent magnet-based configurations [112]. Electromagnetic printing generates relatively larger droplets than thermal or piezoelectric approaches [113].…”

Low-Cost Inkjet Printing Technology for the Rapid Prototyping of Transducers

“…The schematization and real view of an inkjet-printed actuator are shown in Figure 4a,b [23]. The device consists of a conductive coil printed on a flexible PET beam, with a thickness of 140 µm, and an external permanent magnet.…”