Generating electric power with a MEMS electroquasistatic induction turbine-generator

This paper presents a microfabricated electroquasistatic (EQS) induction turbine-generator that has generated net electric power. A maximum power output of 192 μW was achieved under driven excitation. We believe that this is the first report of electric power generation by an EQS induction machine of any scale found in the open literature. This paper also presents self-excited operation in which the induction generator self-resonates and generates power without the use of any external drive electronics. The generator comprises five silicon layers, fusion bonded together at 700°C. The stator is a platinum electrode structure formed on a thick (20 μm) recessed oxide island. The rotor is a thin film of lightly doped polysilicon also residing on an oxide island, (10 μm) thick. This paper also presents a generalized state-space model for an EQS induction machine that takes into account the machine and its external electronics and parasitics. This model correlates well with measured performance and was used to find the optimal drive conditions for all driven experiments.