On/Off Control of a Thermal Actuator

Application ID: 74261


This example model consists of a two-hot-arm thermal actuator made of polysilicon. The actuator is activated through thermal expansion. The temperature increase required to deform the arms, and thus displace the actuator, is obtained through Joule heating (resistive heating). The greater expansion of the hot arms, compared to the cold arm, causes a bending of the actuator.

An On/Off controller, which regulates the applied electric potential, is implemented in Simulink® to keep the maximum tip displacement between 39 and 41 um.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: