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An efficient electro‐thermo‐mechanical model for the analysis of V‐shaped thermal actuator connected with driven structures
Author(s) -
Zhao LinFeng,
Zhou ZaiFa,
Meng MuZi,
Li MengJie,
Huang QingAn
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of numerical modelling: electronic networks, devices and fields
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.249
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1099-1204
pISSN - 0894-3370
DOI - 10.1002/jnm.2843
Subject(s) - actuator , microelectromechanical systems , finite element method , thermal , node (physics) , joule heating , heat transfer , mechanical engineering , beam (structure) , thermal analysis , voltage , joule (programming language) , thermal resistance , materials science , mechanics , structural engineering , engineering , electrical engineering , physics , optoelectronics , thermodynamics , efficient energy use
V‐shaped thermal actuators are popular in many types of microelectromechanical systems' (MEMS) devices. In the rapidly growing applications of V‐shaped thermal actuators, there are usually complex driven structures, in which the Joule heat may transfer, connecting to the V‐beams. However, their influence on the temperature distribution has not been included in existing analytical models. An electro‐thermo‐mechanical model is presented to tackle this problem. By dividing the thermal actuator into a set of short beams, a two‐dimensional network is constructed. Besides, the driven structure can be analyzed as an equivalent circuit of thermal resistances. Then, circuit‐like node equations can be acquired for this heat flow network to solve the heat distribution. On this basis, the heat expansions of the shuttle beam are taken into consideration to predict the displacements and forces under different driving voltage and ambient temperature. Taking a test structure as an example, this model is proved to be accurate by comparing the results with finite element analysis. This model can be served as an effective analysis technique for MEMS devices containing V‐shaped thermal actuators.