Scaling

E. Paul Braineard
Dept. of ICE
SRM University

Length Scales
1 kilometer:
15 km
1 meter:
tall
1 millimeter:
long
1 micrometer:
wide
1 nanometer:
wide

Potheri to Tambaram
Average person 1.6 m
Average ant 5 mm
Blood cell 68 m
Viruses 10450 nm

WHY SCALING LAWS?

Scaling: miniaturizing/reducing the dimensions
(or) enlarge
Market demand
Intelligent, Robust, Multi-functional and Low
cost
Strong products
Necessary to miniaturize each individual
components.
Miniaturizing favorable/unfavorable?
Not just scaling down
Some cannot be scaled down favorably
Some cannot be scaled down at all

Scaling laws thus become the very first thing that

Scaling Laws &

Microfabrication
Scaling Laws
Will physical phenomenon scale
favorably or unfavorably?
Small things
Less affected by volume
phenomenon
o

Mass, Inertia etc,.

More affected by surface area

phenomenon
o

Contact forces, Heat transfer, etc,.

2

Scaling phenomenon in
different physics
Frictional forces > Inertial forces
Heat dissipation > Heat storage
Electrostatic force > Magnetic force

Scaling: outline

Scaling
Scaling
Scaling
Scaling
Scaling
Scaling
Scaling

in
in
in
in
in
in
in

Geometry
Rigid-Body Dynamics
Electrostatic Forces
Electromagnetic Forces
Electricity
Fluid Mechanics
Heat Transfer
6

Scaling in Geometry
Volume (V) and surface (S) are two
physical parameters that are frequently
involved in machine design.
Volume
leads to the mass and weight of
device components.
relates to both mechanical and
thermal inertia (Thermal inertia is a
measure of how fast we can heat or cool
a solid).
Surface is related to pressure and the
buoyant forces in fluid mechanics.
When the physical quantity is to be
miniaturized, the design engineer must

Scaling in geometry
Consider a cube of side a
Surface area of the cube _______
Volume of the cube_________
Surface to volume (S/V)ratio________

ith scaling volume reduces more rapidly than surface

V ratio increases

) Compare S/V ratios of a cube with side 1 m and that of a cube with sid

Scaling in Geometry
S/V 1/l
if length is reduced by 10 times
Volume reduces by 1000 times
Surface area reduces by only 100 times
Volume relates to mass and surface area relates to
buoyancy force (When an object is placed in a fluid, the fluid
exerts an upward force called as buoyant force. )
S/V 10-4/mm
S/V 10-1/mm

So, an elephant can never fly as easily as a dragonfly!

From Tai Ran Tsu

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From Tai Ran Tsu

11

Scaling in rigid-body
dynamics
Movement in microactuators is because of forces

Power is the source for generation of forces

Issues to be resolved
Required amount of force for the movement of
actuator
How fast the desired movement can be
achieved
How readily the movement can be stopped
Reason: inertia
Inertia is related to mass and acceleration
Miniaturization requires understanding of
Power
Force/pressure

12

From Tai Ran Tsu

13

To design micro actuators,

it is helpful to understand
how forces scale.

From Tai Ran Tsu

14

Orde
r

Force scale,
F

Acceleratio
n, a

Time
,t

Power density,
P/V

-2

1.5

-2.5

-1

-1

0.5

0.5

 Acceleration
F

l
F
3 F
a 3 l
m
l

time
1 2
s at
2
s
t

l
l F l 3

l 2 F /2
16

 Power density (P/V)

F

l
l
P Fs

4 1.5 F

2 F /2 3 l
V tV l
l

17

From Tai Ran Tsu

18

From Tai Ran Tsu

19

From Tai Ran Tsu

20

From Tai Ran Tsu

21

From Tai Ran Tsu

22

From Tai Ran Tsu

23

From Tai Ran Tsu

24

From Tai Ran Tsu

25

QL Q
B. Pressure drop
P 4 3
a
l
With scaling (microchannels), the pressure drop increases

From Tai Ran Tsu

26

heat storage vs heat

dissipation
Example: Compare heat storage
vs heat dissipation
Heat dissipation is proportional to
surface
Heat storage proportional to
volume

With scaling, heat dissipation

> heat storage

Scaling laws
Rate of cooling:
small sized cube will cool faster or large
sized cube ?
Cubes with sizes 10 and 0.1
Allowed to cool from same high
temperature to same low temperature
The total heat (Volume) contained in
the largest cube is 106 times larger
than the smallest cube
The heat dissipating area of largest
4
cube
is
only
10
timeswill
thatcool
of smallest
The smaller cube
100
cube

times faster than that of the larger

cube
28

Scaling laws

Example
Effect of scaling in the spring constant (k) of beam

Ewt 3
k
4l 3

dentify the scale (i.e., the length) related parameters

is proportional to length

With scaling the spring constant

decreases
Therefore smaller the beam,
smaller the spring constant29 more

MEMS Scaling: Domains

Convective heat transfer: Free convection
depends on volume forces (buoyancy) and is
negligible at small length scales. Forced
convection may be significant.
Structural rigidity:Beam deflection under
gravity is negligible. Beam deflection under
external forces is independent of scale.
Fluidics:
Viscosity and surface tension dominate inertial effects.
Reynolds numbers are typically small, and turbulence
does not occur.
Pressure-driven flows are dominated by wall friction at
small scales.

Diffusion: Diffusion occurs quickly at small

scales, in sharp contrast to its macroscale

Thank you