A variable-capacitance micromotor where the rotor is supported electrostatically in five degrees of freedom was designed, fabricated and tested in order to study the behavior of this electrostatic motor. The micromachined device is based on a glass/silicon/glass stack bonding structure, fabricated by bulk micromachining and initially operated in atmospheric environment. The analytical torque model is obtained by calculating the capacitances between different stator electrodes and the rotor. Capacitance values in the order of 10 −13 pF and torque values in the order of 10 −10 N m have been calculated from the motor geometry and attainable drive voltage. A dynamic model of the motor is proposed by further estimating the air-film damping effect in an effort to explain the experimental rotation measurements. Experimental results of starting voltage, continuous operation, switching response and electric bearing of the micromotor are presented and discussed. Preliminary measurements indicate that a rotor rotating speed of 73.3 r min −1 can be achieved at a drive voltage of 28.3 V, equivalent to a theoretical motive torque of 517 pN m. Starting voltage results obtained from experimental measurement are in agreement with the developed dynamic model.
An electric bearing used to support a micromachined rotor of variable-capacitance motors was designed and tested in order to study the characteristics of this frictionless bearing. Electrostatic suspension of a ring-shaped rotor in five degrees of freedom is required to eliminate the mechanical bearing and thus the friction and wear between the rotor and the substrate. Bulk microfabrication-based glass/silicon/glass bonding is chosen for this device, allowing the fabrication of large area sense capacitors and rotor, which make the device potentially suitable for the development of an electrostatically suspended micromachined gyroscope. The device and its basic operating principle are described, as well as the dynamics of the rotor and basic design considerations of the electric bearing system. A theoretical relationship to relate the characteristics of a classical lag–lead compensator to the stiffness properties of the electric bearing is developed to explain the experimental bearing measurements. The experimental results of closed-loop frequency response, suspension stiffness and drive voltage effects are presented and discussed for the bearing operated initially in the atmospheric environment. The performance of a tri-axial electrostatic accelerometer has also been experimentally investigated on the prototype of the electric bearing system.
A micromachined electrostatically suspended gyroscope is described in this paper, in which a spinning ring-shaped rotor is suspended by an electric bearing in five degrees of freedom and driven by a three-phase variable-capacitance motor. The electric bearing provides contactless suspension of the spinning rotor, allowing the rotor through a torque-rebalance loop to precess about two input axes that are orthogonal to the spin axis. In this way, the micromachined spinning-rotor gyroscope can be used as a two-degree-of-freedom angular rate sensor by detecting the precession-induced torque. Design and simulation of the dual-axis torque-rebalance loop, by considering actual negative spring effect in rotor dynamics, are presented to investigate the loop stability and explain the experimental measurement. The prototype device has been fabricated by bulk micromachining technique and tested successfully with a suspended rotor spinning at a speed of 10 085 rpm. Initial measurements of the rate gyroscope shows that an input range of ± 100 • s −1 , a noise floor of 0.015 • s −1 Hz −1/2 , and a bias stability of 50.95 • h −1 have been achieved. The detailed results of the prototype device, electric bearing and motor spin-up are also described.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.