• [2012-10-30]

  Development of an Indigenous Smart Structure System with Sensor/Actuator, Energy Harvester and Microstrip Antenna

 Speaker：Shiming Yang   Host：Daining Fang   Time：15:00 pm

Date：September 7, 2012

Venue：Conference Room 210, Building No.1, Engineering College   Abstract:  Smart structure systems embedded with sensor/actuator can be tailored to desired mechanical properties, while systems with embedded energy harvester and low-profile microstrip antenna are desirable to minimize aerodynamics disturbances in flight vehicles.  A smart layer module by utilizing the flexible printed circuit process is developed to facilitate embedding sensor/actuator. Vibration suppression experiments validate that the smart layer module is effective to higher structural strength and stiffness.  A 3000 × 3000× 500 μm vibration energy harvester is also developed to drive the sensor/actuator. This is the smallest vibration harvester resonating at 105 Hz, implementable by standard CMOS process and compatible to System-on-Chip (SoC) design. Design verifications show that the harvester can generate an average output power of about 0.1 μW, or equivalent output density 0.02 μW/mm3, by the excitation input of 10 μm amplitude at 105 Hz. In addition, a thermoelectric harvester is developed to utilize the thermal gradient for power delivery.  The design with a thermal isolation cavity to prevent heat loss and maintain temperature gradient is validated by TSMC 0.35μm 2P4M (2-poly and 4-metal) CMOS process to achieve the power factor of about 0.042 µW/cm2K2 and voltage factor 2.42 V/cm2K.   With these harvesters, a rectangular microstrip antenna is also embedded in composite laminated substrates to show that both the mechanical and electromagnetic properties are superior to those of an isotropic substrate.  The concept of an indigenous smart structure system with sensing, actuation, control, communication and power supply capabilities is feasible.

About the speaker:   Shih-Ming Yang received his BS from the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan on 1978, MS from the University of Iowa, USA on 1984, and PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, USA on 1988.  He had been in computer peripherals R&D for about 2 years in USA before joining the faculty of the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan on 1989.  He was the recipient of the Distinguished Research Award by the National Science Council of the Taiwan government on 2001 and elected in the inaugural Distinguished Professor at the University on 2002.  His research interests are in vibration control, digital signal processing, smart structure systems and micro-system applications.