On the Notion of a Mechanical Battery

Shai Shmulevich, Aharon Joffe, Inbar Hotzen Grinberg, David Elata

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present an electrostatic transducer in which voltage remains constant while charge is stored or extracted from the device. We achieve this by designing a nonlinear mechanical spring, which exactly counteracts the nonlinearity associated with electrostatic attraction forces. In essence, the new device responds like a rechargeable battery, only that here we store electric energy in elastic deformation, whereas in common batteries, electric energy is stored as chemical potential. The capacitance of the presented test devices is currently too small to be practical, and we are not, by any means, suggesting that this transducer can replace chemical rechargeable batteries. Nevertheless, some necessary steps toward constructing a more viable device with larger energy density are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7004017
Pages (from-to)1085-1091
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Microelectromechanical Systems
Volume24
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2015

Keywords

  • Nonlinear springs
  • electrostatic actuation
  • energy storage.
  • gap-closing electrostatic actuators

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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