A novel electromagnetic elastomer membrane actuator with a semi-embedded coil

This study describes the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel electromagnetic membrane actuator (EMMA) for pumping applications. Related technologies for realizing membrane micropump are first reviewed. A conceptual design and batch process for fabricating thin PDMS membrane embedded with a planar coil, which is the essential part of EMMA, is then proposed. This study investigates some important issues relating to the utilization of PDMS in pneumatic pumping. An advanced EMMA with improved fabrication yield and reliability is also presented. To demonstrate the feasibility, different types of EMMA are fabricated and tested. The EMMA with membrane diameter of 7 mm was tested, and a deflection exceeding 50 μm can be achieved with an applied current of less than 500 mA. Stability and reliability tests also showed promising results. To summarize, the proposed EMMA can fulfill the requirements of large flexibility, good controllability, system compactness and batch-process capability, and can be used to establish a simple and effective pumping system.