This paper presents the design and evaluation of a high force density fishbone shaped electrostatic comb drive actuator. This comb drive actuator has a branched structure similar to a fishbone, which is intended to increase the capacitance of the electrodes and hence increase the electrostatic actuation force. Two-dimensional finite element analysis was used to simulate the motion of the fishbone shaped electrostatic comb drive actuator and compared against the performance of a straight sided electrostatic comb drive actuator. Performances of both designs are evaluated by comparison of displacement and electrostatic force. For both cases, the active area and the minimum gap distance between the two electrodes were constant. An active area of 800 × 300 μm, which contained 16 fingers of fishbone shaped actuators and 40 fingers of straight sided actuators, respectively, was used. Through simulation, improvement of drive force of the fishbone shaped electrostatic comb driver is approximately 485% higher than conventional electrostatic comb driver. These results indicate that the fishbone actuator design provides good potential for applications as high force density electrostatic microactuator in MEMS systems.
Thermo-Electrochemical cells (Thermocells/TECs) transform thermal energy into electricity by means of electrochemical potential disequilibrium between electrodes induced by a temperature gradient (ΔT). Heat conduction across the terminals of the cell is one of the primary reasons for device inefficiency. Herein, we embed Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride) (PVDF) membrane in thermocells to mitigate the heat transfer effects - we refer to these membrane-thermocells as MTECs. At a ΔT of 12 K, an improvement in the open circuit voltage (Voc) of the TEC from 1.3 mV to 2.8 mV is obtained by employment of the membrane. The PVDF membrane is employed at three different locations between the electrodes i.e. x = 2 mm, 5 mm, and 8 mm where 'x' defines the distance between the cathode and PVDF membrane. We found that the membrane position at x = 5 mm achieves the closest internal ∆T (i.e. 8.8 K) to the externally applied ΔT of 10 K and corresponding power density is 254 nWcm(-2); 78% higher than the conventional TEC. Finally, a thermal resistivity model based on infrared thermography explains mass and heat transfer within the thermocells.