Abstract
This paper presents a new millimeter-sized membrane actuator utilizing the volume expansion, resulting from a phase-change composite material, induced by self-heating through the Joule effect. The composite consists of carbon particles as the conductive elements and of paraffin wax as the polymer matrix. The behavior of the actuator is experimentally characterised by measuring its external temperature, its electrical resistance and the membrane deflection. Several factors influencing these measurements are identified and briefly discussed. A detailed analysis of the experimental findings follows, so as to provide a deeper physical understanding of the observed actuator behavior, thus allowing future design and performance improvements.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Klintberg, L., et al.: A large stroke, high force paraffin phase transition actuator. Sens. Actuators A 96, 189–195 (2002)
Lee, J.S., Lucyszyn, S.: A micromachined refreshable Braille cell. J. Microelectromech. Syst. 14, 673–682 (2005)
Goldschmidtboing, F., Katus, P., Geipel, A., Woias, P.: A novel self-heating paraffin membrane micro-actuator. MEMS IEEE 21st International Conference, pp. 531–534 (2008)
Sant, H.J., Ho, T., Gale, B.K.: An in situ heater for a phase-change-material-based actuation system. J. Micromech. Microeng. 20(8) (2010)
Lazarou, P., Rotinat, C.: Multiphysics simulation of a self-heating paraffin membrane microactuator. COMSOL Conference 2013, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2013)
Medalia, A.I.: Effective degree of immobilization of rubber occluded within carbon black aggregates. Rubber Chem. Technol. 45(5), 1171–1194 (1972)
Zhang, K., Han, B., Yu, X.: Electrically conductive carbon nanofiber/paraffin wax composites for electric thermal storage. Energy Convers. Manag. 64, 62–67 (2012)
Lazarou, P.: Multiphysic modelling and experimental validation of the thermoelectromechanical behavior of a phase-change conductive paraffin microactuator. CEA internal technical report. Ref. CEA DIASI/14-344/Rev. 0. 102 p (2014)
Roy, D., Zandt, M., Wolters, R.: Bias dependent specific contact resistance of phase-change material to metal contacts. Proceedings of STW.ICT Conference 2010. Veldhoven, The Netherlands, pp. 147–149 (2010)
Kim, S., Drzal, L.T.: High latent heat storage and high thermal conductive phase-change materials using exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 93(1), 136–142 (2009)
Ruschau, G.R., Yoshikawa, S., Newnham, R.E.: Resistivities of conductive composites. J. Appl. Phys. 72(3), 953–959 (1992)
Zois, H., Apekis, L., Omastová, M.: Electrical properties of carbon black-filled polymer composites. Macromol. Symp. 249–256 (2001)
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to warmly thank Mr J. Catherine and P. Allain, who have worked respectively on the initial concept that inspired this miniature actuator, and the first experimental test bench and measurements. The authors are also very grateful to the French Ministry of economy, industry and employment (Direction Générale de la Compétitivité, de l’Industrie et des Services—DGCIS) who financially supported part of this work under the grant 102930231 (Mediate, ITEA2 labeled project, EUREKA cluster program).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lazarou, P., Rotinat-Libersa, C. (2016). Investigation of the Behaviour of a New Miniature Carbon-Paraffin Phase-Change Actuator. In: Zeghloul, S., Laribi, M., Gazeau, JP. (eds) Robotics and Mechatronics. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22368-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22368-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-22367-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-22368-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)