Electrostatic Drives

Electrostatic drives are widely used in microtechnology. At the IMT, we are researching to make this actuation technology usable for precision engineering drives as well.

Principle of electrostatic comb actuation.
Principle of electrostatic comb actuation. The electric field E creates a (constant!) force pulling the two combs together.

Electrostatic drives are being investigated at the IMT. These do not require any significant current flow and therefore produce almost no waste heat. For various functional questions, motors that can be used in a magnetic resonance scanner are useful. In concrete terms, this means that electrically conductive materials must be largely dispensed with and ferromagnetic materials must be completely dispensed with. In addition, current flow and resulting magnetic fields must be avoided as far as possible.

Prototyp eines elektrostatischen Antriebs für die z-Positionierung eines Mikroskopie-Tisches
Prototyp eines elektrostatischen Antriebs für die z-Positionierung eines Mikroskopie-Tisches
To the top of the page