Design and simulation of a thermally actuated microgripper with a compliant bistable release mechanism for biomanipulation

Abstract

Microgrippers, devices based on MEMS (Microelectro-mechanical systems) technology, are widely used to manipulate biological samples. When used for biomanipulation, they often confront the problem of stiction of samples to gripping jaws due to the behavior of materials at the microscale. The proposed design integrates a gripper with an active release mechanism that involves a compliant bistable mechanism enabling a quicker release that is conventionally difficult for electrothermal microgrippers. The proposed design features cascaded and double Vshaped thermoelectric actuators for effective micromanipulation. Along with selecting a suitable material for the microgrippers, a fabrication process has also been proposed. Simulation and analysis conducted using the COMSOL Multiphysics software have demonstrated operating temperatures and displacements in the preferable range for biomanipulation.