A BOUNDARY-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THE FLUID-FLOW AROUND MICROMOTORS

This paper demonstrates the use of the boundary element method (BEM) t o model the fluid flow field around micromachines. We have looked at a surface-micromachined micromotor with twelve stator and eight rotor p oles, modelling the actual three-dimensional geometry of the fins. Our results give a better approximation to the experimentally measured dr ag than existing finite element analyses. We have looked at the drag o n different faces, how the drag varies with angular displacement, how it varies with the addition of each component, and how it varies with the rotor's elevation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.