Periodic oscillations in electrostatic actuators under time delayed feedback controller

Abstract: In this paper, we prove the existence of two positive $T$-periodic solutions of an electrostatic actuator modeled by the time-delayed Duffing equation $$\ddot{x}(t)+f_{D}(x(t),\dot{x}(t))+ x(t)=1- \dfrac{e \mathcal{V}^{2}(t,x(t),x_{d}(t),\dot{x}(t),\dot{x}_{d}(t))}{x^2(t)}, \qquad x(t)\in\,]0,\infty[ $$ where $x_{d}(t)=x(t-d)$ and $\dot{x}{d}(t)=\dot{x}(t-d),$ denote position and velocity feedback respectively, and $$ \mathcal{V}(t,x(t),x{d}(t),\dot{x}(t),\dot{x}{d}(t))=V(t)+g{1}(x(t)-x_{d}(t))+g_{2}(\dot{x}(t)-\dot{x}{d}(t)),$$ is the feedback voltage with positive input voltage $V(t)\in C(\mathbb{R}/T\mathbb{Z})$ for $e\in \mathbb{R}^{+}, g{1},g_{2}\in \mathbb{R}$, $d\in [0,T[$. The damping force $f_{D}(x,\dot{x})$ can be linear, i.e., $f_{D}(x,\dot{x}) = c\dot{x}$, $c\in\mathbb{R}^+$ or squeeze film type, i.e., $f_{D}(x,\dot{x}) = \gamma\dot{x}/x^{3}$, $\gamma\in\mathbb{R}^+$. The fundamental tool to prove our result is a local continuation method of periodic solutions from the non-delayed case $(d=0)$. Our approach provides new insights into the delay phenomenon on microelectromechanical systems and can be used to study the dynamics of a large class of delayed Li\'enard equations that govern the motion of several actuators, including the comb-drive finger actuator and the torsional actuator. Some numerical examples are provided to illustrate our results.