Solid-driven mechanism and experimental study based on surface acoustic wave microfluidic

This study proposes a method to drive a solid by liquid–solid coupling and designs and manufactures a surface acoustic wave actuator to drive a wetted solid ball. The solid ball moves under surface acoustic wave microfluidic acoustic streaming. By theoretical analysis and experimental testing, the driving model is systematically examined in terms of the influence of the device frequency, input power, droplet viscosity, and other parameters on the movement of the ball. The speed at the mark end of the ball under 4.17 W of input power and driving at 60-MHz frequency in pure water reaches 0.175 m/s. Compared with the driving method of a surface acoustic wave linear motor, this wetted solid-driven method easily ensures that the solid ball drives to reach the same order of speed, avoiding numerous problems present in the existing surface acoustic wave linear motors. The proposed method provides important guidance and is of practical significance for the application of surface acoustic wave technology in micromotors and micromanipulation.