This work reports on the modelling of, and experiments on, a method in which liquid is transported as droplets on a planar hydrophobic surface with no moving parts, merely through electrostatic forces generated by the underlying electrodes. Two-directional transportation along a straight electrode path and across a junction, fusion of two droplets and methods for importing, exporting and filter...

-In this paper, piezoelectric actuation is compared with electrostatic actuation for application in RF-MEMS switches with respect to actuation voltage and technological implementation. The expression for the actuation voltages of electrostatic and piezoelectric actuation are discussed and compared with respect to scaling. Calculation examples show actuation voltages for a cantilever beam of 1μm...

This study employs a numerical simulation method that combines the plasma body force model based on electrostatics with Navier–Stokes equations to investigate coupling mechanism of flow fields induced by multistage dielectric-barrier discharge (MDBD) actuation. Compared conventional single-stage alternating-current DBD (AC-DBD) actuation, MDBD actuation provides higher intensity and larger cont...

In vibration control of adjacent buildings under seismic excitations, a twofold objective has to be considered: (i) to mitigate the vibrational response of the individual structures and (ii) to provide a suitable protection against interbuilding impacts (pounding). An interesting strategy to deal with this complex control problem consists in considering an integrated control system, which combi...

Optically driven actuators have been fabricated from single-wall carbon nanotube–polymer composite sheets. Like natural muscles, the millimetre-scale actuators are assemblies of millions of individual nanotube actuators processed into macroscopic length scales and bonded to an acrylic elastomer sheet to form an actuator that have been shown to generate higher stress than natural muscles and hig...

Due date of deliverable 15st March 2011 Actual submission date 6th April 2011 Lead Partner IIT Revision Final Dissemination level Public This deliverable focuses on the design of compliant actuators. The state of the art of compliant actuation systems is firstly introduced by presenting some implementations of the different functional principles. A comparison analysis of the features/capabiliti...

Bi-layer (Au-Si₃N₄) microcantilevers fabricated in an array were used to detect vapors of energetic materials such as explosives under ambient conditions. The changes in the bending response of each thermal bimorph (i.e., microcantilever) with changes in actuation currents were experimentally monitored by measuring the angle of the reflected ray from a laser source used to illuminate the gold n...

We experimentally investigate the effects of high electric field on living cells inside a charged droplet under electrophoretic actuation. When an aqueous droplet suspended in a dielectric liquid contacts with electrified electrode, the droplet acquires charge. This charged droplet undergoes electrophoretic motion under strong electric field (1-3 kV/cm), which can be used as a droplet manipulat...