At the University of Louisville J. B. Speed School of Engineering
Here is the latest iteration of the macro bistable actuator. We inflated two air pockets to make this 3-D printed plastic beam contort into an S-shape; this shape is an important step on the way to “snap-through” of our small and large bistable beams. The work continues Fidel Tewolde’s earlier project and makes good use …
Continue reading “Inflatable actuator with two stable states”
Here is a spring steel beam snapping from one stable shape to another in our bending tester as it goes past the critical angle. The beam is about 5 cm long and vibrates at 240 Hz. Thanks to Roger Bradshaw and Bill Hnat for the slow-motion video.
Our paper “Wavelength specific excitation of gold nanoparticle thin films” came out and is available online. Working with gold nanoplates from our collaborators in the O’Toole group, we are looking at thermal expansion in thin films as a way to bend microscale beams. These nanoparticles can be highly wavelength selective. We found that we could …
Continue reading “Selective heating with two types of nanoparticles”
We are looking at thin-film beams embedded in flexible surfaces. Not only can these beams act as micro-switches, but they can quickly jump to a new shape if the curvature of the surface changes. Their “snap-through” behavior is controlled by the amount of compression put into the beam at fabrication time. The concept works for …
AES2013 Harnett plenary talk: Electrodes for microfluidic applications from cindyharnett
