Abstract
Electrostatic flap valves for rapidly modulating air flows through directed jets have been fabricated by simple lamination techniques as extensions to standard printed circuit board technology. The flaps have thicknesses of a few microns whereas the lateral dimensions are several millimeters. The laser cutting and lamination processes are described here and the characteristics of the valves are presented. Flow rise and fall times of order 1 ms are demonstrated, the variations of response times with drive voltage and pressure differential are shown, and lifetimes greater than 4 × 108 are reported.
Volume Subject Area:
Microelectromechanical Systems
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Copyright © 1999 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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