Micromachine

• US 5,262,695 A
• Filed: 01/22/1992
• Issued: 11/16/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tanaka, Makoto, Tsutsumi, Takeo, Tsuda, Shinya, Nishikuni, Masato, Nakashima, Yukio, Noguchi, Shigeru, Izu, Hiroaki, Terakawa, Akira, Kuriyama, Hiroyuki, Nakamura, Noboru, Kuwano, Yukinori
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HASZKO, DENNIS
• Application Number:
  US07/823,459
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 310/40 MM, 310/40.5, 310/308, 310/309, 310/DIG. 6
• US Class Current: 310/309
• CPC Class Codes: H02N 1/004 in which a body is moved along a path due to interaction with an electric field travelling along the path
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 310/06 Printed-circuit motors and components

Abstract

An electrostatic motor for use as a power generating mechanism to be mounted on a micromachine includes a rotatable semiconductor substrate and a drive electrode disposed in proximity to the substrate. The semiconductor substrate is doped with a specified impurity element to form electromagnetic wave-static electric converters of p-n junction. When the motor is to be started, the converter in the vicinity of the electrode is irradiated with electromagnetic waves to set up an electric field between the opposed surfaces of the converter and the electrode to rotate the substrate by an electrostatic force due to the electric field.

Claims

1. An electrostatic motor, comprising:

a semiconductor substrate rotatable around a central axis thereof; and

at least one drive electrode disposed at a specified position in proximity to said semiconductor substrate;

said semiconductor substrate having electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters each comprising a p-n junction, said converters being individually disposed at a plurality of angularly-spaced portions around said substrate axis, said drive electrode being opposed to a path through which electromagnetic wave irradiation regions formed on the respective converters move with the rotation of said substrate, an electromagnetic wave traveling channel being disposed at one side of said drive electrode and extending to said irradiation region of said converter adjacent to another one of said converters opposed to said drive electrode, said semiconductor substrate being rotatable by an electrostatic force between a surface portion of said drive electrode and an adjacent surface portion of said converter irradiated with electromagnetic wave through said channel.

2. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 1 wherein said semiconductor substrate is in the form of a disk and is formed with separating zones extending radially from said substrate axis to provide a plurality of sectorial electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters.

3. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 1 wherein said substrate has a first surface exposed to impingement of the electromagnetic wave, said first surface of said substrate containing said adjacent surface portion, said first surface of said substrate being doped with an impurity element from a direction along the rotational axis of said substrate to form a p-n junction in parallel to said substrate surface and thereby form said converters.

4. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 1 wherein said substrate has an outer peripheral surface doped with an impurity element from a direction orthogonal to said substrate axis to form a p-n junction in parallel to the outer peripheral surface of said substrate and thereby provide said converters.

5. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 1 wherein said drive electrode has electrically connected thereto an electromagnetic wave-static electricity converter to be irradiated with electromagnetic wave simultaneously with the irradiation of said substrate with said electromagnetic wave, said drive electrode being chargeable by said converter connected thereto.

8. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 1, wherein said semiconductor substrate is in the form of a ring and is formed with separating zones extending radially from said substrate axis to provide a plurality of sectorial electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters.

6. An electrostatic motor comprising a rotor made of a said semiconductor substrate and rotatable around a central axis thereof, and a stator made of a said semiconductor substrate and disposed at a specified position coaxially with said axis of said rotor, each of said rotor and said stator having a plurality of blades extending radially thereof and orthogonal to said axis, said blades of said rotor being opposed to said blades of said stator axially of said axis in lapping relation with a small distance provided therebetween, each of said blades being formed with an electromagnetic wave-static electricity converter of p-n junction to make opposed surfaces of said rotor blade and said stator blade opposite in polarity, said rotor being rotatable with an electrostatic force produced between said opposed blades by irradiating said converters of said rotor and said stator with electromagnetic wave from one direction along said axis.

7. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 6 wherein said rotor blades are different from said stator blades in number, and among said rotor blades and said stator blades, said blades positioned toward said direction or irradiation with said electromagnetic wave are each formed with said converter only in one side region thereof with respect to a circumferential direction about said rotor axis, said other side region thereof providing a radiation blocking portion.

9. An electrostatic motor, comprising:

a semiconductor substrate rotatable around a central axis thereof; and

at least one drive electrode disposed at a specified position in proximity to said semiconductor substrate;

said semiconductor substrate having electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters each comprising a p-n junction in which a p-doped portion of said semiconductor substrate extends substantially orthogonally to the rotational axis of said semiconductor substrate in a first disk-shaped region thereof, and a p-doped portion of said semiconductor substrate extends substantially orthogonally to the rotational axis of said semiconductor substrate in a second disk-shaped region thereof, said converters being individually disposed at a plurality of angularly-spaced portions around said substrate axis, said drive electrode being opposed to a path through which electromagnetic wave irradiation regions formed on the respective converters move with the rotation of said substrate, an electromagnetic wave traveling channel being disposed at one side of said drive electrode and extending to said irradiation region of said converter adjacent to another one of said converters opposed to said drive electrode, said semiconductor substrate being rotatable by an electrostatic force between a surface portion of said drive electrode and an adjacent surface portion of said converter irradiated with electromagnetic wave through said channel.

10. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 9, wherein said semiconductor substrate is in the form of a ring and is formed with separating zones extending radially from said substrate axis to provide a plurality of sectorial electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters.

11. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 9, wherein said semiconductor substrate is in the form of a disc and is formed with separating zones extending radially from said substrate axis to provide a plurality of sectorial electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters.

12. An electrostatic motor, comprising:

a semiconductor substrate rotatable around a central axis thereof; and

at least one drive electrode disposed at a specified position in proximity to said semiconductor substrate;

said semiconductor substrate having electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters each comprising a p-n junction in which one of a p-doped portion and an n-doped portion of said semiconductor substrate extends substantially orthogonally to the rotational axis of said semiconductor substrate in a first disk-shaped region thereof, and the other of the p-doped portion and the n-doped portion of said semiconductor substrate extends annularly about the rotational axis of said semiconductor substrate, said converters being individually disposed at a plurality of angularly-spaced portions around said substrate axis, said drive electrode being opposed to a path through which electromagnetic wave irradiation regions formed on the respective converters move with the rotation of said substrate, an electromagnetic wave traveling channel being disposed at one side of said drive electrode and extending to said irradiation region of said converter adjacent to another one of said converters opposed to said drive electrode, said semiconductor substrate being rotatable by an electrostatic force between a surface portion of said drive electrode and an adjacent surface portion of said converter irradiated with electromagnetic wave through said channel.

13. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 12, wherein said semiconductor substrate is in the form of a ring and is formed with separating zones extending radially from said substrate axis to provide a plurality of sectorial electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters.

14. An electrostatic motor as defined in claim 12, wherein said semiconductor substrate is in the form of a disc and is formed with separating zones extending radially from said substrate axis to provide a plurality of sectorial electromagnetic wave-static electricity converters.