A low voltage capillary microgripper using electrowetting

Author

Vasudev, A. ; Zhe, J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Univ. of Akron, Akron, OH, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

21-25 June 2009

Firstpage

825

Lastpage

828

Abstract

We present a new microgripper utilizing a liquid droplet to pick up and release micro objects. Lifting force is evolved from a liquid bridge formed between the gripper surface and an object. Electrowetting is used to dynamically change the capillary lifting forces and enable object release. The driving voltage is applied to a pair of coplanar interdigitated electrodes. A Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) insulation layer is used to lower the driving voltage. Experiments indicated that the lifting forces can be as high as 213 muN at a driving voltage of 28 V. Experiments also demonstrated the picking-up and releasing of micro glass beads.

Keywords

capillarity; glass; grippers; micromanipulators; wetting; BST insulation layer; capillary lifting forces; capillary microgripper; coplanar interdigitated electrodes; electrowetting; micro glass beads; Barium; Binary search trees; Bridge circuits; Electrodes; Glass; Grippers; Insulation; Low voltage; Strontium; Titanium compounds; Capillary Force; Electrowetting; Microassembly; Microgripper; Micromanipulation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009. TRANSDUCERS 2009. International

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4190-7

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4193-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SENSOR.2009.5285747

Filename

5285747