Hello fellow genny builders, found this Seminar invitation in my mailbox today. Just post it to let you know that semiconductor industry have some interest in axial-flux permanent-magnet generators. Its not on chip scale but a bit bigger, micro scale.
Anyway here it is:
ABSTRACT:
Modern battery technologies have not kept pace with the rising demand for power by
portable electronic devices. This has led to the need for alternative power sources such as
MEMS-based electric generators that can produce 10-100 W of electrical power. Suitable
electric generators could be powered by a variety of prime movers, including liquid flow,
pressurized gas, or small combustion engines, such as a microscale gas turbine.
This talk presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of permanent-magnet (PM)
generators for use in microscale power generation systems. The generators are three-phase,
axialflux, synchronous machines. The rotor contains an eight-pole annular SmCo PM and a FeCoV
back iron. The stator uses interleaved, multi-turn electroplated Cu windings that are dielectrically
isolated from a 1-mm thick NiFeMo substrate by a 5 µm polyimide layer. These microfabricated
windings, with their small inter-conductor gaps and variable width geometry, are the key enabler
for high power density.
At a rotational speed of 120,000 rpm, one such generator demonstrated 2.6 W of mechanical-to-
electrical power conversion and, coupled to a transformer and rectifier, delivers 1.1 W of DC
electrical power to a resistive load. For an active machine volume of 144 mm3 (9.5 mm OD, 3.2
mm ID, 2.3 mm thick), this corresponds to a power density of 7.5 MW/m3. These results prove
that Watt-level power production is achievable using miniaturized magnetic machines and
demonstrate the viability of scaled PM generators for portable power applications.
Author Bio:
Sauparna Das received S.B. degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics, and
the M.Eng. degree in electrical engineering in 2002 from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), Cambridge. He did his Masters thesis at Analog Devices Inc. under a
fellowship from the MIT EECS Internship program designing high frequency DC-DC converters
for cell phone power applications (2001-2002). He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering at the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems at MIT. His
research focuses on the development of magnetic machines and power electronics for Power
MEMS applications. His professional interests include the modeling, design and control of
electromechanical systems and power electronics.
Greetings,
Ray
