Features of the Operation of a Three-Electrode Electrostatic Microgenerator in the Presence of Collisions between Electrodes

Abstract

The results of studying the influence of impact interactions on the operation of a three-electrode two-capacitor microelectromechanical transducer (MEMT) and a microgenerator based on it are presented. The operation of the microgenerator in the impact periodic mode is analyzed for two extreme cases, when the movable electrode initially comes into contact with the limiters located on the left (LWC) or right (RWC) walls of the casing. The relationship between the system parameters and the characteristics of the external driving force source, which makes it possible to evaluate the possibility of implementing a periodic impact operation, is obtained. The dependences of the average generated power of the impact microgenerator on the number of collisions and the load are calculated. It is shown that a microgenerator with a three-electrode MEMT, in the case when the movable electrode initially comes into contact with the limiters located on the LWC, develops more power than in the case when the movable electrode initially touches the limiters located on the RWC. The efficiency of the microgenerator in impact and nonimpact modes is compared. It is shown that when using the impact mode, a gain by factors of 2 to 5 in the developed power is possible with a significant decrease of 1 to 2 orders of magnitude of the optimal load resistance compared to using an equivalent impact-free mode. In general, the analysis carried out and the developed approach make it possible to significantly narrow the range of the search for the necessary system parameters at the preliminary design stage and reduce the design time.