Electrowetting is one of the most feasible methods for manipulating low-volume droplets on lab-on-a-chip systems. Finding the applied electrowetting force on a droplet and its comparison with movement resistive forces could be very useful in predicting the efficiency of an electrowetting actuator. In this study, the electrowetting force was calculated as a function of droplet position with the aid of analytical way and finite element method (FEM) at different applied voltages. In order to evaluate the results, a coplanar electrowetting actuator with SU-8 dielectric layer was fabricated. Then, an accurate droplet positioning system was utilized and one droplet (10 µl) was positioned on a specific point of the actuator to assess the ability of electrowetting force to overcome the resistive forces. This process was repeated for various points along the workspace of the actuator at different voltages. The experimental results indicated that the errors of FEM and analytical solution in predicting the least moveable voltage was 14%.

电润湿是在芯片实验室系统上操纵小体积液滴的最可行的方法之一。找到施加在液滴上的电润湿力并将其与运动阻力进行比较对于预测电润湿致动器的效率非常有用。在这项研究中，借助分析方法和有限元方法（FEM），在不同的施加电压下，计算了电润湿力作为液滴位置的函数。为了评估结果，制造了具有 SU-8 介电层的共面电润湿致动器。然后，利用精确的液滴定位系统，将一个液滴（10 µl）定位在执行器的特定点上，以评估电润湿力克服阻力的能力。在不同电压下，对沿执行器工作空间的各个点重复此过程。实验结果表明，有限元法和解析解预测最小可动电压的误差为14%。