The design of high strength electro-thermal micro-actuator based on the genetic algorithm

Micro-actuator has applied on the microrobotics, microfluidics et al. widely. In general, to obtain the maximum output force is the designed requirement of electro-thermal actuator. However, the displacement for the force output will result in the stress concentration. The important issue is to reduce the failure of the electro-thermal actuator resulted from the stress concentration. This paper proposes an optimal process that involves using the finite element method and genetic algorithm to maximize the displacement and output force and minimize the stress concentration for enhancing the performance of an electro-thermal micro-actuator. The results were validated by comparing the simulated results of a previous study. Geometric design parameters were used for determining the displacement, output force, and stress concentration. The optimal design was proved to increase the life expectancy of micro-actuator.