JPS60212740A - Granule moving element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute a movement of a fine granule with a high accuracy by forming a temperature control means on an opposed member through a liquid in which the granule exists, and changing partially a temperature of the liquid. CONSTITUTION:In case a voltage is impressed to a heating resistor 3a, a granule 6 consisting of a bubble is positioned in the vicinity of the heating resistor 3a, but when this voltage is cut and a voltage is impressed to a heating resistor 3b, the granule 6 moves in the heating direction and is held in the vicinity of the heating resistor 3b. In this way, the granule 6 moves by forming a temperature difference in a liquid, and the granule moves to the vicinity of the resistor which is being heated. Accordingly, a position of the granule can be controlled by selecting a heating resistor to which a voltage is impressed. Plural heating resistors are used as a temperature control means, and they are formed in plural members opposed through the liquid 2, namely, a heating resistor layer 4a and 4b.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] 〔Technical field〕 The present invention relates to an element for moving minute particles.

[Prior art]

Conventional methods for moving objects include directly touching the object and applying force to move it, and using electromagnetic force to move the object without contact, but both of these methods involve small objects. When objects are present in a high density, it is not possible to move each object independently by a desired distance. In other words, if the method of directly touching the object becomes minute, the movement mechanism must be adjusted to arrange it at a high density. However, it is extremely difficult to realize this, and in addition, with methods that use electromagnetic force, it is difficult to provide sufficient shielding when micro objects are arranged in high density and operated, which can lead to malfunctions. There is a risk.

In recent years, there has been a demand for smaller and higher-density object moving elements, particularly in various devices such as display devices and recording devices, and there is a strong demand for means for arranging minute objects in a high-density manner and driving them accurately. ing.

[Purpose of the invention]

In view of the prior art as described above, the present invention aims to move minute particles with high precision.

[Summary of the invention]

According to the present invention, the above-mentioned object is to cause particles to exist in a liquid, to form temperature control means in members facing each other via the liquid, and to partially control the temperature of the liquid by the temperature control means. This is accomplished by changing to

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a first embodiment of the particle moving element of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view thereof. In the figure, 1 is a protective plate, 2 is a liquid layer made of ethyl alcohol, 4 & and 4b are heating resistor layers containing heating resistors 3a and 3b, respectively, and made of an insulating substance S tO2, 5m + 5b is an insulating support It is the body. 6 is a particle formed of air bubbles, 8 is a conductive wire, heating resistors 3a, 3b
Drive power source 7 for each side of the machine that can drive each independently
7 b K connected, while heating resistors 3a, 3b and others @
9 is set to ground or a common voltage. Therefore, by controlling the voltage applied to each heating resistor, p
1. The temperature of the liquid layer near the heating resistor can be controlled.

As shown in FIG. 1, when a voltage is applied to the heating resistor 3a, the particles 6 made of air bubbles are located near the heating resistor 3&, but when the voltage applied to the heating resistor 3& is turned off, When a voltage is applied to the p1 heating resistor 3b, the particles 6 move in the direction of the arrow and are held near the heating resistor 3b. In this way, the grains 6 move by creating a temperature difference in the liquid, and in the case of an element like the one shown in FIG. 1, the grains move near the resistor that is generating heat. go. Therefore, by selecting the heating resistor to which voltage is applied, the position of the particles can be controlled.

When providing air bubbles in the liquid as particles 6 using the element shown in FIG. 1, the air bubbles can be easily formed in the liquid 2 by applying heat to the heating resistor to form vapor bubbles in the liquid 2. You can.

In addition, in the device shown in Fig. 1, in order to hold the particles 6 in the liquid 2, a bias voltage (holding voltage) is applied to the heating resistor that attracts the particles 6 to a level that does not cause vapor bubbles in the liquid.
It is desirable to apply it as Another driving method is to apply the above bias voltage to all the heat generating resistors, and then apply a relatively high voltage higher than the bias voltage to the heat generating resistors located at the desired position to move the particles 6. to attract the grain 6t, then lower the bias voltage,
In this way, the grains 6 can be held in a predetermined position.

In the device of this embodiment, a plurality of heating resistors are used as temperature control means, and these are formed in a plurality of parts facing each other with the liquid 2 interposed therebetween, that is, heating resistor layers 4& and 4b. .

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the particle moving element of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a protection plate, 12a is a liquid layer,
13a and 13kl are optical energy absorbing layers, which are arranged at opposite positions with the liquid layer 12 interposed therebetween. 14
a + 14 b is a protective layer, 15m and 15b are insulating supports, and 16 is a granule. 17 is a light source unit such as a semiconductor laser, 18 is the rotation axis of the galvanometer mirror 118*U, ff lupanomir 2-, 19 is a two-sided reflecting mirror, 20, 21 #22
and 23 are flat reflecting mirrors.

The light beam that exits the light source section 17 is reflected from the two surfaces of Garpanomi 2-18. 19. The light reaches the energy absorbing layer 13 & through the plane reflecting mirrors 20 and 21, where the light is absorbed and generates heat, which warms the absorbing layer 131. This heat is the protective layer 1
4 m to the liquid layer 12. Galvano mirror
When rotating 18, the speed of light L1 changes from K to the two-sided reflecting mirror 19.
, the light energy absorbing layer 1 through the plane reflecting mirrors 22 and 23.
3b can be reached.

Optical energy absorption layers 13m and 1 in this example element
A heating resistor such as that used in the first embodiment described above can be embedded in 1 cU in 3 b.

Then, a voltage sufficient to generate enough heat to hold the grains 16 is applied to the heating resistor, while the incident light beam L1 can be used to obtain the amount of heat to move the grains 16. 0% Chirun, you can also reverse these roles.

In this embodiment, a plurality of light energy absorbing layers 13m, 13b and a heat generating resistor embedded therein are used as temperature control means. It is composed of members.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a third embodiment of the particle moving element of the present invention. This example shows an example of use as a light control element. In the drawings, the same members as in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and explanations thereof will be omitted. however,
In this embodiment, the storage plate 1, the liquid layer 2, and the granules 6
uses a material that is translucent. Further, 30 is a light shielding filter.

In the device of this example, when the voltage applied to the heating resistors 3a and 3b is controlled to position the particles 6 near the heating resistors 3&, the liquid part near the heating resistors 3b flows from above. The incident light beam A is emitted downward without being affected by the element, and has a light speed of 3. On the other hand, when the voltages applied to the heating resistors 3a and 3b are controlled to position the particles 6 near the heating resistor 3b, the incident light beam 11 is i-folded or reflected by the particles. Different exit luminous flux! 4 (indicated by a dotted line in the figure).

Thus, by controlling the position of the particles 6 in the liquid layer 2, the incident light beam can be emitted in different wavefront states, thereby performing optical control.

In the device of this example, the light beam 8 that is made to enter the heating resistor 3m from above is the light shielding filter 3.
0, but of course the light blocking filter 30 must be removed to reduce the incident light flux l! The same light control as that for the incident light beam 1 can be performed for the incident light beam. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the light beam is incident from above, but it may also be incident obliquely at an appropriate angle.

In this embodiment, an example was shown in which light control is performed based on the difference in refractive index between the liquid 2 and the particles 6, but the liquid 2 and the particles 6
It is also possible to perform light control by using materials with different light absorbing properties (for example, one is transparent and the other is light blocking) and utilizes the difference in absorbance depending on the presence or absence of particles.

According to this embodiment, the incident light beam is transmitted through the minimum necessary number of members, so that the incident light is effectively utilized.

Further, in this embodiment, a transparent type element is shown, but if a light reflective layer is provided between the liquid layer 2 and the lower protection plate 1, a transparent type element can also be used. In this case, the lower protection plate 1 does not need to be transparent.

In the above embodiments, the case where the number of heating resistors is two is illustrated, but it goes without saying that in the element of the present invention, the planar shape of the element can be a polygon and three or more heating resistors can be provided. be.

Furthermore, although the above embodiments illustrate the case where one particle exists in the liquid layer, the device of the present invention also includes cases where a plurality of particles exist.

In the above embodiments, ethyl alcohol was used as the liquid, but other organic liquids or water may be used as the liquid in the device of the present invention. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, ethyl alcohol vapor bubbles generated by heating ethyl alcohol were used as particles, but particles in the device of the present invention may be similarly generated by heating other liquids. Steam bubbles can be used, and granules can also be introduced from the outside. Examples of particles include air bubbles that are difficult to dissolve in the liquid used. Specific examples of this include air, oxygen, and nitrogen when water is used as the liquid.

Hydrogen, helium, neon, argon, -carbon oxide.

- Bubbles of nitrogen oxide, methane, etc. can be exemplified. It is also possible to use a liquid that is immiscible with the liquid used as the particles. A specific example of this is oil droplets when water is used as the liquid. Furthermore, solid particles having a relatively low density can also be used as the granules. Specific examples of this include commercially available hollow or solid microspheres made of polymeric materials such as latex mail and microcapsules.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the particle moving element of the present invention as described above, minute particles can be moved to a desired position by only partially changing the temperature in the liquid, and the temperature control means can easily move minute particles. You can make it! ! In addition, since the particles can be arranged relatively densely, they can be moved accurately even when the particles are arranged at a high density.

History 1: In the particle moving element of the present invention, the temperature control means is formed of a plurality of members facing each other with a liquid interposed therebetween, so that the influence of heat generation at each of the plurality of positions where the particles are to be held is suppressed from other positions. The response speed of this element is good.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views of the device of the present invention. 1.11: Protective plate, 2112: Liquid layer, 3 m +3b
Two heating resistors, 4m, 4b; heating resistor layer, 5m + 5b
, 15m, 15b: Support, 6.16 two particles, 13m,
13b: light energy absorption layer, 14m, 14b: protective layer, 30: light shielding filter. ! 11 figures, 2 figures

Claims (1)

[Scope of claims]
A particle moving element characterized in that the temperature control means is formed of a plurality of members facing each other with a liquid interposed therebetween. (2) The particle moving element according to item 1, wherein the temperature control means comprises a heating resistor. (3) m degree control means consists of a light energy absorber;
Particle movement element in the first term. (4)! 1. The particle moving element according to item 1, wherein the one-time control means comprises a combination of a heating resistor and a light energy absorber.