A Novel Opto-Fluidic Interface

A novel opto-fluidic interface which responds to DC signals was constructed and tested. The interface was a laminar proportional amplifier (LPA) modified to include an optical coupling region in the power nozzle. The opto-fluidic gain of the interface was measured to be 15.50 kPa per watt of input optical power. A pneumatic cylinder actuator was optically activated by the opto-fluidic interface connected to a fluidic gain block. In this configuration, an output pressure of 55.2 kPa was produced using an input optical pover of 10 mW. The bandwidth of the opto-fluidic interface was 140 Hz.