In this work we report the design, the fabrication and the characterization of an innovative soft tactile micro-actuator, also called TAXEL (TActile piXEL), which is developed to be integrated in a portable tactile display for providing text content and graphical information to visually impaired people through the sense of touch. It exploits a thermo-active approach, by taking inspiration from common thermometers: the actuator is activated by the thermal deformation of an active material, namely the metallic alloy Galinstan© determined by heating the alloy through an underlying metallic resistor designed to work as a heater. The microfabrication of TAXELs is achieved in several steps consisting in heater fabrication, in SU8 micro chambers fabrication, in the deposition of Galinstan® inside and sealing by a PDMS membrane. Measurements of the TAXEL deformation have been accomplished by measuring the displacement of the PDMS sealing membrane, which is promoted by the expansion of the heated Galinstan® drop. These measurements have been achieved by using the Laser Doppler Vibrometer in the “topography mode “and revealed a total displacement of 50 μm when a tension of 2.4 V is applied at taxel terminals and, according to the Joule's law, a power converted from electrical energy to thermal energy of 7,2 W. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

A thermo-activated tactile micro-actuator for displays

S. Puce;T. Dattoma;M. Emara;A. Qualtieri;M. De Vittorio
2019-01-01

Abstract

In this work we report the design, the fabrication and the characterization of an innovative soft tactile micro-actuator, also called TAXEL (TActile piXEL), which is developed to be integrated in a portable tactile display for providing text content and graphical information to visually impaired people through the sense of touch. It exploits a thermo-active approach, by taking inspiration from common thermometers: the actuator is activated by the thermal deformation of an active material, namely the metallic alloy Galinstan© determined by heating the alloy through an underlying metallic resistor designed to work as a heater. The microfabrication of TAXELs is achieved in several steps consisting in heater fabrication, in SU8 micro chambers fabrication, in the deposition of Galinstan® inside and sealing by a PDMS membrane. Measurements of the TAXEL deformation have been accomplished by measuring the displacement of the PDMS sealing membrane, which is promoted by the expansion of the heated Galinstan® drop. These measurements have been achieved by using the Laser Doppler Vibrometer in the “topography mode “and revealed a total displacement of 50 μm when a tension of 2.4 V is applied at taxel terminals and, according to the Joule's law, a power converted from electrical energy to thermal energy of 7,2 W. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11587/434938
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