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

这个工程微系统：“XYZ”芯片项目的目标是研究微型热机的制造，该热机将使用常用的液态烃燃料，有效地产生微机电系统（MEMS）和微电子设备使用的电力。 这种微型热力发动机预计将提供毫瓦到瓦的电力，同时提供1到30伏的电压。该研究涉及创建一种全新的热机，它利用了小尺度下特有的热物理现象。其结果将是一个热引擎，是有效的，可以大规模生产的技术开发的微电子和MEMS。 所提出的发动机是一种外燃发动机，其中通过使用接近理想蒸汽卡诺循环的新型热力学循环将热功率转换为机械功率。通过使用压电发电机将机械能转换成电能。 发电机采用柔性膜的形式，可以使用MEMS制造技术容易地制造，但仍然提供高转换效率。 这种方法消除了制造复杂的微型机械的要求，例如旋转式压缩机和涡轮机，从而产生非常简单但高效的装置。此外，由于微热发动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，太空，生物医学和消费产品在内的广泛应用中非常有用。

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.