Design of Chevron Electrothermal Actuator for High Force Defense Applications

An in-plane chevron actuator based on joule heating and thermal expansion is proposed in this work. COMSOL Multiphysics is used to perform electrothermal and thermomechanical analyses on the bent beam actuators. By stacking the beams, the single bent beam actuator is transformed into a four-beam actuator, allowing for higher forces to be generated. Single crystalline silicon with low resistivity (<0.005Ω cm) is chosen for the actuator because of its good thermomechanical properties. The designed actuator produces maximum displacement of 2.22 μm for 6V with 986 K temperature at the tip which is suitable for high force defense applications.