NEW DESIGN FOR AN ELECTROTHERMALLY ACTUATED MICROGRIPPER AND FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION RESULTS

New design for an electrothermally actuated SU-8 polymeric microgrippers is presented, simulated and analyzed. The electrothermally driven microgrippers were studied using computer simulations (the Finite Element Method using CoventorWare software tool). Numerical simulations - coupled electro-thermo-mechanical simulations - were performed.  We investigated the influence of the temperatures achieved in the microgripers’ arms and the deflections of the tips, as functions of the applied voltages. The electro-thermo-mechanical behaviour of the microgrippers were investigated and an evaluation of the results obtained from simulations (using FEM) was performed.  The simulations results show a good mechanical behaviour of the micromanipulator in order to operate in air. Key words: microgripper, electrothermal actuator, FEM