A MEMS turbopump for fuel delivery in small-scale power systems

Author

Waits, C.M. ; McCarthy, M. ; Ghodssi, R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

21-25 June 2009

Firstpage

644

Lastpage

647

Abstract

The design, fabrication, and characterization of a microball bearing supported turbopump for fuel delivery in small-scale power systems are reported. A spiral-groove viscous pump is integrated with a microball bearing and a radial in-flow microturbine. Using water as the working fluid, pumping is demonstrated at rotational speeds, flow rates, and pressure rises of up to 10 krpm, 80 mL/hour, and 8.2 kPa, respectively. In addition, bearing and turbine performances are improved from previous work through design and fabrication changes, enabling continuous stable operation for over 4.5 million revolutions and maximum demonstrated speeds above 85 krpm.

Keywords

fuel; microfabrication; micropumps; power systems; MEMS turbopump; fuel delivery; microball bearing; radial in-flow microturbine; small-scale power systems; spiral-groove viscous pump; Fabrication; Friction; Fuels; Micromechanical devices; Micromotors; Power system reliability; Power systems; Spinning; Turbines; Wafer bonding; Microball bearing; micropump; microturbine; turbopump;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009. TRANSDUCERS 2009. International

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4190-7

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4193-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SENSOR.2009.5285407

Filename

5285407