Electret-based-microtransducers
Electro-mechanical effect – Dielectric charges – Energy harvesting – Polymer technology – Heterogeneous material integration
Competence
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Electrets are materials that are excellently suited for permanent charge storage. Electret materials previously known in microsystems engineering have included silicon nitride, silicon oxide and teflon, among others. Our work has been focusing on the promising new electret polymers Cytop and PDMS that besides are simultaneously suited as a robust assembly and packaging material and as a soft material for structural mechanical components, respectively. Electrodes, counter electrodes and the electret structures are integrated on micromechanical resonators, which are excited into non-linear resonance by external vibrations. Thus, energy can be extracted from the external source. Depending on the application, one- or multi-dimensional oscillators are beneficial. Resonant frequencies useful for scavenging energy from the moving human body are in the range of a few Hz to a few 100 Hz. |
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Fields of application
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Energy source for low-power systems such as medical implants
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Battery substitute for wireless sensor systems
Team
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M.Sc. Simon Genter, Ph.D. student
Projects
Current
Completed
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Ulrich Bartsch, Ph.D. Resaearch Training Program
Selected publications
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U. Bartsch, J. Gaspar, O. Paul
Low-frequency two-dimensional resonators for vibrational micro energy harvesting
2010 J Micromech Microeng, pages: 1 - 12 -
U. Bartsch, J. Gaspar, O. Paul
A 2D electret-based resonant micro energy harvester
2009 22nd IEEE International Conference on MEMS 2009 , pages: 1043 - 1046
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U. Bartsch, J. Gaspar, O. Paul
Characterization of the Charging and Long-Term Performance of Cytop Electret Layers for MEMS Applications
2008 MRS Fall Meeting 2008, Boston, USA -
U. Bartsch, M. Blattmann, J. Gaspar, O. Paul
Low-Frequency 2D Resonators for Vibrational Micro Energy Harvesting Applications
2008 PowerMEMS 2008, Sendai, Japan , pages: 57 - 60 -
U. Bartsch, C. Sander, M. Blattmann, J. Gaspar, O. Paul
Influence of Parasitic Capacitances on the Power Output of Electret-Based Energy Harvesting Generators
2009 PowerMEMS 2009, Washington DC, USA , pages: 332 - 335
Equipment
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Custom-made corona discharge station
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Electrostatic Voltmeter (Monroe Electronics model 279)
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MSA-400 Microsystem Analyzer (Polytec)
Contact
Simon Genter
Tel.: +49 (0) 761 230 7193
email: simon.genter@imtek.de