OPTIMIZATION OF THE GEOMETRY OF ELECTROSTATIC MICROMOTORS USING ONLY ANALYTICAL EQUATIONS

Since electrostatic motors require very high voltages and do not exert great efforts on the usual dimensional scale, their design and optimi zation are not well known, but on the millimetre and micrometre scales , this kind of motor seems to present interesting qualities. The optim ization of electrostatic micromotors is generally based on the use of numerical finite-element methods. Because of the numerous possible geo metrical combinations, this type of optimization takes a lot of time a nd must be reperformed for each application. In this paper, we present the optimization of variable capacitance motors based solely on an an alytical model of the stator-rotor capacity. For each application, thi s model allows determination of the optimal geometrical dimensions of the electrostatic micromotor depending on the fabrication process used .