Micromachined thermoelectrically driven cantilever structures for fluid jet deflection

The design, fabrication, and performance of bimorph cantilever structures for direction control of laminar jet flow are reported. The fabrication process comprises standard IC technologies and additional silicon micromachining techniques. The design parameters for the structures are obtained using analytical approximations and numerical simulations. Forced convection as the decisive cooling mechanism proves to be very effective, resulting in an excellent dynamic response of the thermoelectrically activated structures. Experimental testing confirmed the predicted stationary and transient behavior of 1-mm-long and 1-mm-wide actuators, which are able to control hydraulic power at pressure levels of up to 4 bar, flow rates of up to 150 ml/min, and time constants of about 1 ms