Design, fabrication, and testing of a bistable electromagnetically actuated microvalve

Author

Capanu, Mircea ; Boyd, James G., IV ; Hesketh, Peter J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Chicago Univ., IL, USA

Volume

9

Issue

2

fYear

2000

fDate

6/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

181

Lastpage

189

Abstract

A bistable electromagnetically actuated microvalve was designed, processed, and tested. The valve was designed to control a water flow of 0.05-0.5 /spl mu/s from a reservoir at a pressure of 1-2000 Pa. The two valve components were fabricated in silicon, the upper piece comprises an electroplated gold coil, and the lower piece is an Ni/Fe alloy beam. The bistable capability was achieved by balancing the elastic forces on the beam with the magnetic forces due to a 46-/spl mu/m-thick rolled magnetic foil. The design includes the flow through the orifice, squeeze film damping due to beam motion, beam elasticity, and electromagnetics. The microvalve was tested for power consumption, flow rate, time response, Ni/Fe alloy composition, and magnetic foil properties. The valve operates at 1-2 V in both air and water.

Keywords

flow control; microactuators; microvalves; 1 to 2 V; 1 to 2000 Pa; Au; Ni-Fe; Ni/Fe alloy beam; Si; bistable microvalve; design; electromagnetic actuation; electroplated gold coil; fabrication; magnetic foil; orifice flow; silicon device; squeeze film damping; testing; water flow control; Beams; Fabrication; Iron alloys; Magnetoelasticity; Microvalves; Nickel alloys; Pressure control; Process design; Testing; Valves;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/84.846698

Filename

846698