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ANALYSIS OF A MICRO-ELECTRIC GENERATOR FOR MICROSYSTEMS

C.B. Williams and R.B. Yates University of Sheffield, MEMS Unit, Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Eng., Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK Fax: +44 (0)114 272 6391, Tel: +44 (0)114 282 5182, Email: c.b.williams@sheffield.ac.uk

SUMMARY
Supplying power to remote microsystems that have no physical connection to the outside world is difficult, and using batteries is not always appropriate. A solution is offered by the device proposed in this paper, which generates electricity from mechanical energy when embedded in a vibrating medium. This micro-generator has dimensions of around 56x1". Analysis predicts that the power produced is proportional to the cube of the frequency of vibration, and that to maximise power generation the mass deflection should be as large as possible. Power generation of 1pW at 70IH and O.lmW at 330Hz are predicted for a typical device, assuming a deflection of 5 0 ~ .

Mechanical energy - energy from movement and vibration.

Of these sources, light and thermal energy have already been exploited for use in micro power supplies. However, there are many applications where there is insufficient light or thermal energy, and so other sources of energy should be considered. Therefore, we propose a new power supply that generates electricity from mechanical energy. This is intended for use in vibrating structures. Preliminary studies have led to an initial design, (currently under fabrication), usjng bulk micromachining technology, with dimensions of the order of 5x5~1".

DESCRIPTION INTRODUCTION
The development of microelectromechimical systems has highlighted a wide range of applications for miniature sensors and actuators. This has made it possible to implant micro sensors and actuators into a whole host of different structures, for applications such as medical implants and embedded sensors in buildings and bridges. In many applications, the microsysiem must be completely embedded in the structure, wiih no physical connection to the outside world. The problem with this is that a remote device has to have its own power supply. The conventional solution is to use batteries, but batteries can be undesirable for many reasons: they tend to be quite bulky, contain a finite amount of energy, have a limited shelf life, and contain chemicals that could cause a hazard. A promising altemative to batteries is miniature self-contained renewable power supplies. Renewable power supplies convert energy from an existing source within their environment into electrical energy. The sources of energy available will depend on the application. Some possible energy sources are:
0 0

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the generator. The generator consists of a seismic mass, m, on a spring, k. When the generator is vibrated, the mass moves out of phase with the generator housing, so that there is a net movement between the mass and the housing. This relative displacement is sinusoidal in amplitude, and can drive a suitable transducer to generate electrical energy. The transducer is depicted as a dashpot, d, because the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy damps the mass.

Light energy - from ambient light such ais sunlight. Thermal energy - miniature thermoelectric generators generate electricity when placed across a. temperature gradient [ 11. Volume flow - flow of liquids or gases.

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the Generator

The generator is an inertial device which means that it
only needs to be mechanically anchored to one point.

This is different to many other electromechanical

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transducers. For example, in a dynamo the housing is fiied to an immovable reference frame, and the shaft is fixed to a rotating body. An inertial generator can simply be attached to any moving body to generate electricity. There are several transduction methods suitable for the generator. The choice of transducer makes little difference to the amount of electrical power that will be generated. However, the impedance of the transducer governs whether it generates ,primarily voltage or primarily current. Three possible transduction mechanisms are:

vibration, y(t) = Yocos(ot) , this net electrical power generated can be found from equation (3):

* Piezoelectric - using piezoelectric material to convert

strain in the spring into electricity. Electromagnetic - magnet attached to the mass which induces a voltage in a coil as is moves. * Electrostatic - electret arrangementwith a permanent charge embedded in the mass which induces a voltage on plates of a capacitor as it moves. For our initial device evaluation we chose to use electromagnetic transduction.

ANALYSIS
In order to assess the feasibility of the device and optimise the design, a harmonic analysis of the generator is required. The simplified model of the generator used for analysis is shown in Figure 1. For the analysis, it can be assumed that the mass of the vibration source is much greater than the mass of the seismic mass in the generator, and that the vibration source is an infinite source of power. This means that the vibration source is unaffected by the movement of the generator. The differential equation that describes the movement of the mass with respect to the generator housing can be derived from the dynamic forces on the mass [Z]. If the generator housing is vibrated with a displacement y(t), the relative motion of the mass with respect to the housing is z(t), and the differential equation of motion is: mz(t)+ d i ( t )+ kz(t)= -my(t)

where <=damping factor, o,=resonant angular frequency (in radians per second), Yo =amplitude of vibration and @=angularfrequency of vibration. This equation holds for any type of electrical transducer, and so for an ideal transducer the choice of transducer does not affect the amount of power generated. In Figure 2, average power is plotted against Erequency for various damping factors. This illustrates the fact that maximum power is generated at the resonant frequency of the generator. The damping factor controls the selectivity of the device. For applications where the frequencies of vibration are well-defined and concentrated around one point, a low damping factor would give a more peaked response and increase power generation. Conversely, if the fundamental vibration frequency varies over time, a higher damping factor would be necessary to widen the bandwidth of the generator. The most important fact gained from the analysis is that the amount of power generated is proportional to the cube of the vibration frequency. This means that the generator is likely to produce much more power in applications where there is a fairly high frequency of vibration, and is likely to perform poorly at low frequencies. It should be noted that equation (4) suggests that at resonance infinite power will be generated when the damping factor is zero. However this is meaningless as it Power Generated

(1)

where %mass of seismic mass, d=damping constant, k=spring constant. The force on the mass is equal to the force on the spring, that is:

F = kz(t)

(2)

The instantaneous power transfer in the mass, p(t), is the product of the force on the mass and its velocity:

P(t) = k z(t>[ + YO>

m]

(3)

Frequency

When damping is present, due to the electrical transducer, there is a net transfer of mechanical power into electrical power. For sinusoidal excitational

Figure 2. Frequency spectrum of power generation around the resonantfrequency of the generatorfor various damping factors.
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would require infinite displacement of the mass.

CONTROLLING THE DAMPING FACTOR

The damping factor depends on the transducer used and the electrical load resistance. The darnping factor is found by calculating the damping force that the transducer applies to the mass. For an electromagnetic transducer, the force on a wire terminated with a load resistance R, moving through a magnetic field is:

The spring should be designed so that the resonant frequency of the device matches the vibration frequency of the application. The electrical load impedance should be chosen to give a low enough damping factor to increase the movement of the mass.

TYPICAL RESULTS
The results presented are for a generator fabricated with a 16mm2 silicon mass of 15mg. For applications where a continuous supply of power is required, the generator would have to be capable of supplying powers of at least O.lmW. Where the power generation is lower than this, say lyW, energy can be stored and periodically released at a higher power level to form an intermittent supply r31. The vibration characteristics required to generate both lpW and 0.lmW with a damping factor of 5 = 0.3 are shown in Table 1. For the calculations, the resonant frequency of the generator is equal to the excitation frequency in order to maximise power generation. The vibration frequency required is shown for several different devices, each with a different mass travel. The excitational vibration amplitude required to produce this mass travel is also shown. Frequency of vibration Max. travel of mass
+-5Opn

where B=magnetic flux density, l=length of wire, R=load resistance and v=velocity of coil. This must be the damping force, since Idamping force is proportional to velocity. From this, the clamping factor can be derived:

This means that the damping factor for the device can be controlled by varying the electrical load resistance to achieve optimum performance for the application.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATItONS
If the generator is to be very small and made using MEMS fabrication techniques, the fundamental limitation on generation of power is size. :Size limits the mass of the seismic mass, and the maximum distance that the mass can travel. The maximum power that can be generated for a given mass displacement can be found by substituting the mass displacement into e'quation (4) to give: Generated Power = mco :Zt where 2, is the distance that the mass moves. At resonance, Z 0~ l/c ,and so: ,
1 Power 0~

Vibration amplitude
+30pn +6pn k 0 . 9 ~ k30pn k6pn k 0 . 9 ~

Power Generated 1lrW MW 1yW O.lmW O.lmW O.lmW

70Hz 200Hz 730Hz 330Hz lkHz 3.3kHz

+-lop k1.5pn
k50pn +1opn

k1.5pn

(7)

Table 1. Power generated for excitation vibration frequency equal to the resonant frequency of the generator for various resonantfrequencies with a damping factor of z=0.3.
The table emphasises the fact that a large deflection generator is needed. Although most current MEMS devices have deflections of no more than 1-lOpn, larger deflections are possible. For example, a corrugated silicon diaphragm has been produced which deflects up to 38pm [4]. With further research it may be possible to produce devices with deflections of 50pn or more. With a large deflection device it is possible to generate practical amounts of power at quite modest frequencies.

Therefore, a low damping factor is required to maximise power generation. As a consequence, the mass will move further, and so the design must (caterfor large deflections of the mass. A set of design objectives can now be fonnned: The mass should be as large as possible within the available volume of the device. The maximum displacement of the mass should be as large as possible in the space available.

CONCLUSIONS
Generating practical amounts of electrical energy from mechanical vibrations in a small device has been shown

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to be feasible. For a typical device, the predicted power generation is 1pW at an excitation frequency of 70Hz, and O.lmW at 330Hz. The power produced by such a device is proportional to the cube of the frequency of vibration. In order to maximise the power that can be produced in any particular application, the resonant frequency of the generator should be designed to match the dominant frequency of the source vibration, and the maximum possible deflection of the device should be made as large as possible. Damping can be controlled by adjusting the impedance of the electrical load, and this adjusts the frequency selectivity of the generator. The transducer used to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy has no direct effect on the amount of power generated. The generator is suitable for microsystems with modest power requirements that are embedded in environments with vibration frequencies of a few tens or hundreds of Hertz. Currently an electromagnetic micro-generator is being fabricated and tested; in the future, the merits of other transduction mechanisms will be investigated.

authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr R.C. Woods for his advice and technical help, and all their colleagues in the MEMS Unit.

REFERENCES
[l] D.M. Rowe, D.V. Morgan and J.H. Kiely, Low Cost Miniature Thermoelectric Generator, Electronics Letters, Vol. 27, No.25, pp. 2332-2334, 1991. [2] W.T. Thomson, Theory of Vibration with Applications, Prentice-Hall, 1972. [3] W. Kuntz and R. Mores, Electrically Insulated Smart Sensors: Principles for Operation and Supply, Sensors and Actuators, Vol. A25-27, pp. 497-505, 1991. [4]Y. Zhang and K.D. Wise, Performance of NonPlanar Silicon Diaphragms under Large Deflections, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 3, NO.2, pp. 59-68, 1994.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the University of Sheffield for the financial support of this work. The

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