Resumen de Non-linear inverse problems and optimal design of MEMS
Robert-Leon Chereches, Paolo di Barba, Slawomir Wiak
Purpose – Fostered by the development of new technologies, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are massively present on board of vehicles, within information equipment, as well as in medical and healthcare equipment. The purpose of this paper is to approach here the shape design of MEMS in terms of the optimization of a vector objective function, subject to a set of constraints. Objectives and constraints are non-linear, dependent on the unknown device shape. When multiple objective functions should be optimized simultaneously, the set of solutions minimizing the degree of conflict (Pareto front) can be searched for.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes an automated optimal design method based on connecting the MATLAB surrogate modeling (SUMO) toolbox with COMSOL Multiphysics finite element analysis tool, and the evolutionary algorithm NSGA-II as well.
Findings – The efficiency of the optimization method proposed is approximately doubled in terms of runtime (5 vs 10 h for the referred platform), when compared with the same computational job without using surrogate models. This way, a cost-effective and accurate approximation of the Pareto front, trading off drive and levitation force components in a comb-drive electrostatic microactuator, was found.
Research limitations/implications – More in-depth models of MEMS devices could be obtained by simulating multi-domain physical processes, i.e. encompassing a coupled-field analysis in the multiphysics sense.
Originality/value – Under this framework, the proposed approach lays the ground for a very general method devoted to the optimal shape design of any MEMS configuration; in fact, the application of multiobjective optimizations to these kind of devices is quite new.
