Scaling Analysis and its Applications of Electrostatic Micromotors

摘要

An electrostatic micromotor is compared with a conventional electromagnetic micromotor, and the scaling effect of driving forces is analysed according to their different operation principles. Characteristic dimension L represents the linear scale of micromotors. Electromagnetic driving force is proportional to high-order power of characteristic dimension L whereas electrostatic driving force is not. So, in micro domain, the effect of electrostatic force is larger than that of electromagnetic force, which makes electrostatic micromotor more competitive against electromagnetic alternative in MEMS. In assessing the performance of a micromotor, the power per unit volume and efficiency are the two most important criteria. Hence, the two kinds of micromotors are further compared from these two aspects. The results indicate that electrostatic a micromotor has higher power per unit volume and efficiency, moreover, its structure is simple, it can be made sufficiently small. For those advantages of electrostatic micromotors, they can be used in optical devices, aerospace equipment and medical instruments.