Ghodssi awarded ARL grant for microball bearing technology

A rotary electrostatic micromotor supported on microball bearings

Associate Professor Reza Ghodssi (ECE/ISR) has been awarded a three-year, $550,000 grant by the Army Research Laboratory's Cooperative Agreement Power Component Branch under its Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate. The project, Microball Bearing Technology in Silicon for Power MEMS, plans to improve the efficiency and reliability significantly in compact portable power generators and small engines necessary to meet soldiers' energy needs.

A key effort is to investigate the use of MEMS air/fuel control to enhance the efficiency and reliability of small liquid- and gas-fueled power sources used in generator sets, UAVs and fuel cells. Dr. Ghodssi's MEMS Sensors and Actuators Lab will be developing a design methodology and microfabrication technology for a rotary electrostatic micromotor supported on microball bearings. The micromotor will be integrated with a mechanical micropump capable of delivering heavy liquids to a fuel atomizer for heat engines and fuel cells.

Published July 24, 2005