Tunable Inductive Microelectromechanical Devices Actuated by Linear Vibromotor and the Reliability of Microchannels

The motion of micromachined bi-directional electro-thermal vibromotors (BETV) is analyzed using an impact model which takes into account of friction and contact, as well as the compliance of the slider and the impact head. This model is shown to address several important issues on the usage of BETV. These include (a) how to achieve the pull and push mode; (b) avoiding multiple impacts in one actuation cycle; (c) the existence of periodic solution with the same period as the thermal actuator. Four dimensionless parameters are found to govern the dynamics of the vibromotor. Depending on these parameters, we observed periodic motion, period doubling, and aperiodic solution. A criterion is established to separate push and pull modes. An experiment which includes fabricating and characterizing a BETV is carried out to verify the ability of the model to predict pull mode.