Electrostatic precipitators (ESP) and fabric filters (FF) are the main air pollution control equipment utilized to clean dust laden fumes from utility boilers. The choice among these systems depends on specific site conditions such as dust characteristics, required efficiency, gas flowrate and temperature. ESP are generally characterized by higher capital investments and lower operating charges...

A concept of moving dielectrophoresis electrodes (MDEP) based on Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) actuators is introduced in this letter. An example design of tuneable dielectrophoresis filter is presented. Finite Element Analysis of the electrostatic field of the tuneable filter has been conducted. Results show that the trapping force can be adjusted by actuating the MEMS actuators. The p...

The authors describe a method for biomolecular force clamp measurements using atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilevers and micromachined membrane-based electrostatic actuators. The actuators comprise of Parylene membranes with embedded side actuation electrodes and are fabricated on a silicon substrate. The devices have a displacement range of 1.8 μm with 200 V actuation voltage, and displacem...

In this paper, a model reference adaptive control is designed for perfect tracking of moveable electrode of an electrostatic microactuator. The adaptive control of the nonlinear model of this microactuator is constituted feedback control and adaptation law. A Lyapunov function is presented that it guarantees perfect tracking and parameter convergences. The simulation shows designed adaptive con...

High force, large displacement and low voltage consumption are a primary concern for microgyroscopes. The chevron-shaped thermal actuators are unique in terms of high force generation combined with the large displacements at a low operating voltage in comparison with traditional electrostatic actuators. A Nickel based 3-DoF micromachined gyroscope comprising 2-DoF drive mode and 1-DoF sense mod...

In this paper we develop a mathematical model to simulate the actuation of a multilayer metallic strip. In the first step of the model development, we employ the theory of Judy [4] and Timoshenko [5] to quantify the radius of curvature in the unimorph due to differing thermal coefficients in the constituent materials. The resulting radius of curvature is subsequently used to compute the voltage...