Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a powerful tool that enables the printing of almost unlimited geometry in a few hours, from a virtual design to a real structure. In this paper, we present a micro-electromechanical energy harvester that utilized a 3D printed micromechanical structure combined with a miniature permanent magnet and a microelectronic coil towards a hybrid electromagnetic vibrational hybrid energy harvester. Various micromechanical structure geometries were designed, printed, and tested. The characteristic dimensions of the springs were from 200 μm to 400 μm and the total volume of the devices was below 1 cm3. The resonant frequencies (95–340 Hz range), as well as bandwidths (6–23 Hz range), for the developed prototypes were determined. The maximal generated output power was almost 24 μW with a power density up to almost 600 μW/cm3.
Highlights
Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) combine mechanical microstructures with microelectronic circuits to create a very small functional system that senses, actuates, or harvests energy.The technology of the micromechanical structures in MEMSs involves applying many well-known techniques to the specific materials
Silicon and glass are micromachined mainly by wet or dry etching [1,2,3], polymer microstructures are formed by injection molding, hot embossing, or soft lithography [4,5,6,7], and low-temperature co-fired ceramic substrates are cut and co-fired [8]
We demonstrate the use of inkjet 3D printing as a technique that enables the
Summary
Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) combine mechanical microstructures with microelectronic circuits to create a very small functional system that senses, actuates, or harvests energy. Regardless of the applied material and technology, the fabrication of MEMSs is a multistep process involving many technological steps (photolithography, etching, deposition, bonding, assembling, etc.) that require specialized facilities (i.e., apparatus and clean rooms), trained staff, and often knowledge on the properties of the applied materials and limits of the used techniques that are collected over years of experience All these issues mean that single MEMSs are usually low-cost devices, a further decrease in the cost-per-chip is difficult to achieve. Ju et al described an impact-based piezoelectric vibrational energy harvester that had FDM printed housing with 26 × 10 × 10 mm dimensions [28]. We demonstrate the use of inkjet 3D printing as a technique that enables the fabrication fabrication of micro-electromechanical electromagnetic energy harvesters with a volume below.
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