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:
however, additional products may be required to completely define and model it. Furthermore, this example may also be defined and modeled using components from the following product combinations:
The combination of COMSOL® products required to model your application depends on several factors and may include boundary conditions, material properties, physics interfaces, and part libraries. Particular functionality may be common to several products. To determine the right combination of products for your modeling needs, review the Specification Chart and make use of a free evaluation license. The COMSOL Sales and Support teams are available for answering any questions you may have regarding this.