Ultra-low energy bi-state microactuator with wireless power and control capability

This paper presents a microactuator suitable for driving microfluidic valves for biomedical applications, which features zero-energy consumption between actuations with bistate latching. Wireless power transfer based on inductive magnetic field coupling and wireless control over a communication link across the same channel are proposed for the actuator. The actuation is based on electropermanent magnets which combine hard and semi-hard magnets to form an electrically triggered bi-stable latching. A practical actuator is designed and built, which demonstrated that only a short current pulse with a magnitude of 1.7A and width of 120μs is needed to toggle the actuator states. This leads to an energy consumption of 2.5mJ per actuation, and there is no need for power to maintain the states. In addition, a supercapacitor energy buffering circuit is developed to meet the peak current requirement for actuation using a low power rating inductive power supply. The final system is proven to be energy efficient, flexible, and safe for microfluidic applications.