Dual excitation electrostatic stepping motor

Abstract

Electrostatic motors have been believed to be weaker than electromagnetic motors which are typically used for mechatronic devices. However, electrostatic motors are preferable to electromagnetic ones for micromechanical applications since their force per volume ratios increase as their dimensions are reduced. It follows that a large output should be obtained if a large number of such small motors with high force per volume ratios are linked and their outputs are aggregated. This paper proposes an electrostatic drive technology which is applicable to such a large-output motor. The element motor, called the dual excitation electrostatic stepping motor, consists of a pair of plastic films, slider and stator. Both films have parallelly located electrodes embedded in them, and the slider moves along the surface of the stator when defined rectangular pulse voltages are applied to the electrodes both in the slider and the stator. The force generation characteristic of the electrostatic motor is calculated by the surface charge method. A prototype fabricated using flexible print board technology weighs 7 g and generates a thrust force of 1.9 N at an excitation of ± 1000 V. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 119(3): 94–103 1997