Abstract
A technology platform based on commercial printed circuit boards (PCB) technology is developed and presented. It integrates rigid flame retardant (FR)-4 boards, flexible polyimide (PI) structures, and embedded cavities for micro- and meso-scale applications. The cavities or channels can be filled with fluids for microfluidic and lab-on-chip systems. In this study, an electromagnetic energy harvester with enhanced output was designed and implemented in the platform. To enhance harvester output, the embedded cavities were filled with ferrofluid (FF) to improve the overall magnetic circuit design and electromechanical coupling of the device. The fabricated PCB-based harvester had a dimension of 20 mm × 20 mm × 4 mm. Vibration tests of the harvesters were conducted with different magnet sizes and different FF. Test results showed up to a 70% enhancement of output voltage and a 195% enhancement of output power when the cavities were filled with oil-based FF as compared with harvesters without FF. When the cavities were filled with water-based FF, the enhancement of voltage and power increased to 25% and 50%, respectively. The maximum output power delivered to a matched load at a 196-Hz resonance frequency and 1 grms vibration was estimated to be 2.3 µW, corresponding to an area power density of 0.58 µW/cm2 and a volume power density of 1.4 µW/cm3, respectively.
Highlights
Printed circuit boards (PCB) technology is a mature and reliable technology that has been widely adopted in the electronic industry
The Rigid-Flex printed circuit boards (PCB) technology was employed in the folded structure in an electret-based electrostatic harvester where the flexible PI was used as electrical connections and mechanical resonance structures, while the rigid board was used to house the components for power management [6]
One of the methods to improve the flux gradient is to increase the total flux enclosed by the coils. This can be accomplished by proper magnetic circuit design of the device
Summary
Printed circuit boards (PCB) technology is a mature and reliable technology that has been widely adopted in the electronic industry. Multiple rigid and flexible substrates can be laminated and metalized for electrodes and electrical connection. They can be cut or milled into complex shapes for electronic manufacturing and integration. PCB is a good candidate as a manufacturing technology for electromechanical or mechatronic devices. Most of the PCB-based microfluidic devices used PCB as substrates for sensing electrodes and electrical signal connection. In microfluidic devices based only on standard PCB materials, the channels and fluidic structures have been fabricated in the copper layers [15] or the milled cavities in the PCB laminate [16]. The embedded cavities/channels in PCB presented in this paper complement prior achievements and offer a more versatile tool for implementing complex microfluidic devices
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