Design and Finite Element Analysis of an Electrothermally Actuated Microgripper for Biomedical Applications

Yallew, Teferi Sitotaw; Pantano, Maria F.; Bagolini, Alvise

doi:10.1109/dtip54218.2021.9568685

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Very often, electrothermally activated MEMS design engineers resort to virtually characterising devices using finite element solvers, wherein heat lost by the device via convection is either completely omitted or applied simply as a constant boundary condition [ 45 , 46 , 47 ]. Other methods assume that convection can be replaced by conduction to the substrate [ 48 , 49 , 50 ]. While these assumptions may suffice in simpler scenarios such as operation in still air, their suitability is questionable for more complex functions where the device may be submerged in highly conductive, viscous fluids and/or where the device may be exposed to fluid flow where the significance of FSI is quantifiable.…”

Section: Numerical Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermo-Mechanical Fluid–Structure Interaction Numerical Modelling and Experimental Validation of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators for Aqueous Biomedical Applications

et al. 2023

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Recent developments in MEMS technologies have made such devices attractive for use in applications that involve precision engineering and scalability. In the biomedical industry, MEMS devices have gained popularity in recent years for use as single-cell manipulation and characterisation tools. A niche application is the mechanical characterisation of single human red blood cells, which may exhibit certain pathological conditions that impart biomarkers of quantifiable magnitude that are potentially detectable via MEMS devices. Such applications come with stringent thermal and structural specifications wherein the potential device candidates must be able to function with no exceptions. This work presents a state-of-the-art numerical modelling methodology that is capable of accurately predicting MEMS device performance in various media, including aqueous ones. The method is strongly coupled in nature, whereby thermal as well as structural degrees of freedom are transferred to and from finite element and finite volume solvers at every iteration. This method therefore provides MEMS design engineers with a reliable tool that can be used in design and development stages and helps to avoid total reliability on experimental testing. The proposed numerical model is validated via a series of physical experiments. Four MEMS electrothermal actuators with cascaded V-shaped drivers are presented. With the use of the newly proposed numerical model as well as the experimental testing, the MEMS devices’ suitability for biomedical applications is confirmed.

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Section: Numerical Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermo-Mechanical Fluid–Structure Interaction Numerical Modelling and Experimental Validation of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators for Aqueous Biomedical Applications

et al. 2023

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“…More details regarding the simulation works and sensitivity analysis of the capacitive readout were previously reported by the authors [13].…”

Section: Comparison Between the Performances Of The Microgripper The ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This problem can be handled by adding heat sink beams [10][11][12] to dissipate the heat to the surrounding fluid or the device frame. In the case of a MEMSbased gripping platform, heat sink beams can be placed in cascade with the actuator to provide temperature reduction towards the grippers, as proposed by the authors in a previous study [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Analysis of a CSFH-Based Microgripper: Analytical Modeling and Simulation

et al. 2022

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Microgrippers are promising tools for micro-manipulation and characterization of cells. In this paper, a biocompatible electro-thermally actuated microgripper with rotary capacitive position sensor is presented. To overcome the limited displacement possibilities usually provided by electrothermal actuators and to achieve the desired tweezers output displacement, conjugate surface flexure hinges (CSFH) are adopted. The microgripper herein reported can in principle manipulate biological samples in the size range between 15 and 120 µm. A kinematics modeling approach based on the pseudo-rigid-body-method (PRBM) is applied to describe the microgripper’s working mechanism, and analytical modeling, based on finite elements method (FEM), is used to optimize the electrothermal actuator design and the heat dissipation mechanism. Finally, FEM-based simulations are carried out to verify the microgripper, the electrothermal actuator and heat dissipation mechanism performance, and to assess the validity of the analytical modeling.

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Optimization of an amplification mechanism enabling large displacements in MEMS-based nanomaterial testing devices

Kommanaboina

Pantano

Bagolini

2022

Micro and Nano Engineering

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Design and Finite Element Analysis of an Electrothermally Actuated Microgripper for Biomedical Applications

Cited by 5 publications

References 13 publications

Thermo-Mechanical Fluid–Structure Interaction Numerical Modelling and Experimental Validation of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators for Aqueous Biomedical Applications

Thermo-Mechanical Fluid–Structure Interaction Numerical Modelling and Experimental Validation of MEMS Electrothermal Actuators for Aqueous Biomedical Applications

Performance Analysis of a CSFH-Based Microgripper: Analytical Modeling and Simulation

Optimization of an amplification mechanism enabling large displacements in MEMS-based nanomaterial testing devices

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