Abstract
Electro-Conjugate Fluid (ECF) is a kind of dielectric fluids and a kind of functional fluids, which produces jet-flow (ECF-jet) by applying high voltage between electrodes. The ECF-jet generated between needle-type electrodes and ring-type electrodes is called ECF-jet with needle-type electrodes. In this study, novel microactuators using ECF-Jet with needle-type electrodes is proposed. In this paper, firstly, the characteristics of ECF-jet with needle-type electrodes are experimentally investigated. It is ascertained that the pressure due to ECF-jet with needle-type electrodes is increased by miniaturizing each dimension of the electrodes. The characteristics are suitable for microactuator. Secondly, a novel microactuator using ECF-jet with needle-type electrodes which is actuated by the same principle as well-known Bourdon tubes is proposed and fabricated. Next, another type microactuator which has two-degree-of-freedom is proposed and fabricated. Future works are fabrication of the tube with lower elasticity for improvement of characteristics of actuators.
