Performance Analysis of a Linear Micro-actuator Operated by Radiometric Phenomena in Rarefied Gas Flow Field

The perfonnance of micro-actuators utilizing radiometric forces are studied numerically. The Knudsen number based on gas density and characteristic dimension is varied from near-continuum to highly rarefied conditions. Direct simulation Monte Carlo(DSMC) calculations have been performed to estimate the performance of the micro-actuators. In the present DSMC method, the variable hard sphere molecular model and no time counter technique are used to simulate the molecular collision kinetics. For simulation of diatomic gas flows, the Borgnakke-Larsen phenomenological model is adopted to redistribute the translational and internal energies.br/