Imperial College Micro-Power Generation

Although there are many forms of ambient energy which could be harnessed in order to enable self-powering of systems, ambient kinetic energy, in the form of either vibration or some other source will, in many circumstances, be the best choice.

The Control and Power and Optical and Semiconductor Devices research groups aim to fabricate a MEMS based micro-generator including associated power electronics which converts kinetic energy in the form of vibration into a useful voltage source for powering a low power communications link.

Theoretical work so far has concentrated on investigating possible operating modes of micro-generators and design guides for generator optimisation. Practial work has concentrated on building a macro-scale prototype generator using some MEMS processing techniques, which is being used to verify ideas and to gain insight of the difficulties of implementing such technology. A picture of this prototype, mounted on PCB, is shown below.

The following people are involved in the micro-generator design:

• Tim Green - Power electronics.
• Andrew Holmes - MEMS.
• Peng Miao - MEMS design, fabrication and test.
• Paul Mitcheson - Generator optimisation, power electronics, simulation and test.
• Bernard Stark - Power electronics and semiconductor design, and test.
• Eric Yeatman - MEMS.