Contactless and selective energy transfer to a bistable micro-actuator using laser heated shape memory alloy

Abstract

Contactless energy transfer (CET) methods offer great flexibility in the design of complex micro-systems. This paper reports a laser based contactless and selective energy transfer method. A compliant bistable micro-actuator (curved beam of size 25 mm × 1.5 mm × 0.508 mm) is actuated between its two stable positions using the laser heated shape memory alloy (SMA) active elements (size: 3 mm × 1 mm × 0.1 mm). The switching time of the actuator turns out to be 0.5 s for d0 equal to 700 μm and a laser power of 90 mW (d0 is half of the total stroke length). The paper also demonstrates the selective energy transfer technique to the SMA active elements by depositing silver based optical filters directly onto the SMA active elements. A successful demonstration is presented for four wavelengths, 532, 660, 785, and 980 nm, using different values of d0 for the bistable micro-actuator. Finally, a long-term test is performed to highlight the thermo-mechanical effect on the selective addressing capability of the optical filters.