An electrostatic actuator with inherent variable stiffness to suppress bounce with robustness against gap variations

摘要

In this paper, we propose an inherent variable stiffness approach to suppress bounce of electrostatic actuator caused by the gap deviation which is unavoidable because of the micro-fabrication deviation, the tear and wear in the device life-cycle. The variable stiffness is realized through simple clamped-guided beam with large deformations. It have been demonstrated that for the 0.3 μm gap variation, the fluctuation of collision speed (from zero to 2.7cm/s) for the variable stiffness actuator is 62% less than that of constant stiffness counterpart (from zero to 7.18cm/s) under the dual pulse voltage actuation. Meanwhile, the driving voltage based on the variable stiffness spring is only 19.5% lower than that of the constant stiffness spring. The proposed variable stiffness approach may find ample application for extending the life-cycle.