Research Initiation Award: Frictionless Micro-Electro- mechanical Bearings

本研究旨在设计和制造用于各种微电子机械系统(MEMS)的无摩擦微轴承。最近，利用硅和其他精密微机械加工技术，已经提出并制造了各种微电机和许多其他小型致动装置。由于这些装置本身很小，轴承和直线导轨的设计和开发成为一项极其艰巨的任务，而且还没有成功地进行论证。然而，微轴承和微导轨是任何微型机器的基本部件，必须加以开发。据信，由于所涉及的体积很小，成功的轴承将采取与传统轴承在宏观尺度上截然不同的形式，并可能涉及创新的概念。这项拟议的研究涉及这样一种不同的、具有潜在创新性的设计。它采用谐振式电动悬浮，实现了三个方向的开环稳定悬浮。所提出的设计的优点包括与静电微电机完全兼容和低功耗要求。建议的悬架可以利用现有的部件进行开发，并且可以成功地用作微轴承和微导轨各种设计的微电机。

This research is to design and fabricate frictionless microbearings for use in various micro- electromechanical systems (MEMS). Recently, a variety of micromotors and a host of other small actuating devices have been proposed and fabricated, using silicon and other precision micromachining techniques. Because these devices themselves are so small, the design and development of bearing and linear guides become an extremely arduous task, and have not been successfully demonstrated. However, microbearings and microguides are an essential component of any micromachine and must be developed. It is believed that due to the minuscule sizes involved, successful bearing would take radically different forms from those of conventional bearings in the macro scales and may involve innovative concepts. The proposed research involves one of such different and potentially innovative designs. It employs a resonant electric suspension to achieve open loop stable levitation in all three directions. The advantages of the proposed designs include complete compatibility with electrostatic micromotors and low power consumption requirements. The proposed suspension can be developed with available components and can be successfully utilized as microbearings and microguides in various designs of micromotors.