Electrostatic MEMS converters with a switchable dielectric constant for micro-scale power generation

Interdigitated electrostatic MEMS devices have been proposed for converting mechanical energy (vibration) into electrical energy with potential application in wireless sensor networks. This paper presents a novel technique employing a switchable dielectric constant for enhancing the power delivered by interdigitated MEMS electrostatic converters. Preliminary results show that the energy converted per cycle using the proposed approach is 10³times larger than that provided by conventional MEMS devices. Potential technical challenges associated with viscous damping are discussed with the estimated time response of the device varying from 100 mus to 300 mus, depending on the device size.