Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMs) Based Power Generation for Portable Systems

这个工程微系统：“XYZ”on a Chip项目的目标是研究微型热机的制造，该微型热机将使用常见的液态碳氢燃料，以高效地产生电力，供微电子机械系统(MEMS)和微电子设备使用。这种微型热机预计将提供从毫瓦到瓦特的电力，同时提供1到30伏的电压。这项研究涉及创造一种全新的热机，它利用了小尺度上独特的热物理现象。其结果将是一种高效的热机，可以利用微电子和MEMS开发的技术进行大规模生产。该发动机是一种外燃式发动机，通过使用一种接近理想蒸汽卡诺循环的新型热力学循环将热能转换为机械能。机械能通过使用压电式发电机转换成电能。该发生器采用柔性薄膜的形式，可以很容易地使用MEMS制造技术制造，但仍然提供高转换效率。这种方法不需要制造复杂的微型机械，如旋转压缩机和涡轮机，从而产生了非常简单但高效的设备。此外，由于微型热机是一种外部燃烧装置，它将具有广泛的燃料灵活性，使其在包括军事、空间、生物医学和消费品在内的广泛应用中发挥作用。

The goal of this Engineering Microsystems: "XYZ" on a Chip project is to investigate the fabrication of a micro heat engine, which will use commonly available liquid hydrocarbon fuels, to efficiently generate electric power to be used by Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and microelectronic devices. This micro heat engine is expected to deliver electric power in the range of milliwatts to watts while supplying voltages from 1 to 30 volts. The research involves the creation of a totally new class of heat engine, which takes advantage of thermophysical phenomena unique to small scales. The result will be a heat engine that is efficient and that can be mass-produced with techniques developed for microelectronics and MEMS. The proposed engine is an external combustion engine, in which thermal power is converted to mechanical power through the use of a novel thermodynamic cycle which approaches the ideal vapor Carnot cycle. Mechanical power is converted into electrical power through the use of a piezoelectric generator. The generator, which takes the form of a flexible membrane, can be readily manufactured using MEMS fabrication techniques but still delivers high conversion efficiency. This approach eliminates the requirement to manufacture complex micromachines such as rotary compressors and turbines, resulting in a very simple but highly efficient device. In addition, since the micro heat engine is an external combustion device, it will have broad fuel flexibility, making it useful in a wide range of applications including military, space, biomedical, and consumer products.