Bimorph actuators applications

Very recently the viscous polymer processing route (see Section 3.6.7) has been exploited by D.H. Pearce and co-workers [21] to fabricate a helical form of the bimorph, the Helimorph , illustrated in Fig. 6.30. Both axial and rotational actuations are developed which have potential for a variety of applications in the mechanical, optical and acoustical fields. 

A 3D positioning actuator with a stacked structure as pictured in Figure 4.1.21 was proposed by a German company, where shear strain was utilized to generate thex andy displacements [38]. Polymer-packed PZT bimorphs have been commercialized by ACX for vibration reduction/control applications in smart structures [39]. 

PZT appUcations (see e.g. Herbert 1982 Mattiat 1971 Rogacheva 1994 Setter and Colla 1993 Uchino 1997,2000 Waanders 1991) cover mainly the field of ultrasonics (ultrasound transducers, cleaners, fluid atomizers, welding etc ), sensors (e.g. for acceleration), gas ignitors, ceramic filters for TV and delay fines, sound transducers for buzzers and also various actuators (e.g. PZT bimorphs, ink-jet printer heads) etc. Although PZT compositions are known for many years they are still excellent for many applications. New PZT modifications are imder development. 

Oprea A, Combat J, Barsan N, Briand D, de Rooij NF, Weimm U (2009) Temperature, humidity and gas sensors integrated on plastic foil for low power applications. Sens Actuators B 140 227-232 Oprea A, Combat J, Briand D, Barsan N, Weimar U, de Rooij NF (2012) Environmental monitoring with a multisensor platform on polyimide foil. Sens Actuators B 171-172 190-197 Papadimitriou D, Tsamis C (2005) Simulation of capacitive type bimorph humidity sensors. J Phys Conf Ser 10 305-308... 

Chatzandroulis S, Tegou E, Goustouridis D, Polymenakos S, Tsoukalas D (2004) Capadtive-type chemical sensors using thin sUicon-polymer bimorph membranes. Sens Actuators B 103 392-396 Chen Z, Jin M-C (1992) An alpha-alumina moisture sensor for relative and absolute humidity measurement In Proceedings of the 27th annual conference of IEEE Industry Application Society, Houston, TX, vol 2, pp 1668-1675 Chen Z, Lu C (2005) Humidity sensors a review of materials and mechanisms. Sens Lett 3(4) 274—295 Chen Z, Jin M-C, Zhen C (1990) Humidity sensors with reactively evaporated Al Oj films as porous dielectrics. Sens Actuators B 2 167-171... 

In this chapter, we have described an IPMC-driven infusion micropump for recent biomedical applications. Even though the applieations of IPMCs for biomedical fields require more trials and development methods, IPMCs are still attractive materials due to their electromechanical and mechanoelectric properties. A systematic design method of an IPMC-driven micropump was introduced. In order to properly estimate the deformed shapes of IPMC diaphragms, the equivalent bimorph beam model for IPMC actuators was conveniently used, in conjunction with the finite element method. 

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