A BISTABLE PNEUMATIC MICROSWITCH FOR DRIVING FLUIDIC COMPONENTS

This paper presents the fabrication and performance of a pneumatic swi tch for the actuation of passive fluidic components, The switch has tw o stable states which can be held without additional power consumption . Two silicon microvalves, driven by thermally induced buckling of sil icon microbridges, act as the inlet ansi outlet of the operation volum e, Powered by short electrical pulses, the switch can be toggeled betw een the two stable states. With pulses of 10-120 ms duration at 4-4.5 W input power, pressures of up to 4 bar can be controlled. Large defle ctions (e.g., 1 cm piston movement) as well as high forces can be achi eved.