On-chip engine - battery replacement solution for mobile devices

How to provide the most efficient energy source for mobile devices is one of the most intense and competitive research areas available today. Rechargeable batteries and fuel cells - two traditional power supplies for mobile phones and laptops despite continuous improvements, are still limited at the time of operation. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) have come up with a new solution - making small gas turbine engines on chips that can replace batteries for laptops, cell phones, radios and even batteries. family generator.

Complete engine fits in the hands of Professor Epstein.

Gas turbine engines are increasingly popular in power supply in cities, and professor of space travel and aviation does not study Alan Epstein, who led the research team at MIT, came up with the idea of ​​generating Develop very small versions of this type of engine to 'power one person'. MIT's small gas turbine engine is as small as 20 cents, but can provide five times more power than current laptop batteries while the price is unchanged. Laptops are generally active for an average of 3 hours after each charge, but when using micro-motors on chips, they can be used for about 15 to 20 hours. After 10 years of pursuing the 'engine on chip' project, Professor Alan Epstein believes it will be commercialized within 3 to 5 years.

This motor works on the same principle as jet engines. A compression unit draws in air from the outside and compresses air. Fuel nozzles add fuel to compressed air and the mixture burns. Epstein's engine will work with a variety of fuels such as petroleum, propane, ethanol, methanol or hydrogen. Hot air is created to spread rapidly to spin the turbine, which turns the chicken intestine coil inside the magnet to generate electricity. A jet engine has thousands of components assembled into several parts including compressors, combustion chambers and turbines. Meanwhile, Epstein's tiny engine has only two parts: a rotating block that can move and a static structure that acts as an air compressor and combustion chamber.

This jet engine can be inserted into a matchbox, its combustion chamber is as small as a pencil eraser and fuel nozzles are holes like writing dots. Such tiny parts require a much more complex manufacturing process than large jet engine parts. Epstein and his team, as well as other researchers in this area, have turned to the field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), used to manufacture

A part of the engine on the chip.

Small devices from computer chips and biological sensors to chemical processors. Epstein's team had to etch components from the last tiny silicon and motor plates made up of six silicon sheets stacked on top of each other and joined together. To reduce costs, up to 100 parts were created from a large piece of silicon and cut into individual parts. The process begins with a small combustion chamber where fuel and gas mix and ignite at the melting point of the steel (about 1.3700C). The turbine blades rotate at 20,000 rpm. A small generator will generate 10 watts of electricity and a small air pressure booster is prepared to burn. The cooling process is controlled by bringing compressed air around the combustion chamber.

The process of engraving and assembling parts requires very high accuracy, and cannot make mistakes. If there is a small negligence in a single part, it means starting over from scratch, and if anything needs to be changed, the whole design process may have to return to the desk. So far, individual components have been successfully built and tested, so the next challenge is to test an integrated chip, and this phase will be carried out later this year.

Q. HUNG