Design, Simulation and Fabrication of a Normally-Closed Microvalve based on Magnetic Actuation

Abstract Magnetic actuation is promising in realizing flow-control devices because of the simplicity in in fabrication and its fast response. A normally-closed active microvalve based on magnetic actuation has been designed, simulated and fabricated for controlled delivery of fluids. By incorporating magnetic particles onto a deflectable membrane, the magnetic activity can be tuned and the actuation can be controlled using an electromagnet. Studies were focused to optimize the design and thickness of the deflectable membrane and the incorporation of magnetic nanoparticles for efficient actuation. Magnetic actuation was carried out using a programmed microcontroller that controls the activity of individual electromagnets which in turn controls the deflection of the membrane. The geometries were designed using CADian and CleWin software and deflection of the membrane was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool Comsol Multiphysics. The optimized design was fabricated using direct laser write lithography following standard procedures and the simulation results were verified experimentally.