In this paper, results of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements of the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow velocity fields in an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) are presented. The measurements were carried out for various densities of submicron dust. The ESP was an acrylic parallelepiped with a wire discharge electrode and two plate collecting electrodes. The positive DC voltage was applied...

The paper investigates the actuation mechanism in floating electrode MEMS capacitive switches. It demonstrated that in the pull-in state the device operation turns from voltage to current controlled actuation. The current arises from Poole-Frenkel mechanism in the dielectric film and FowlerNordheim in the bridge-floating electrode air gap. The pull-out voltage seems to arise from the abrupt dec...

DC electric fields can combine with test mass charging and thermal dielectric voltage noise to create significant force noise acting on the drag-free test masses in the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) gravitational wave mission. This paper proposes a simple technique to measure and compensate average stray DC potentials at the mV level, yielding substantial reduction in this source of...

We analyze pull-in instability of electrostatically actuated microelectromechanical systems, and study changes in pull-in parameters due to the Casimir effect. When the size of the device is reduced, the magnitude of the Casimir force is comparable with that of the Coulomb force and it significantly alters pull-in parameters. We model the deformable conductor as an elastic membrane and consider...

Actuator materials can directly convert different types of energy into mechanical energy. In this work, we designed and fabricated electrothermal air pump-type actuators by utilization of various nanostructured carbon materials, including single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), reduced graphene oxide (r-GO), and graphene oxide (GO)/SWCNT hybrid films as heating elements to transfer electrical st...

This paper signifies a very basic design and simulation techniques of RF MEMS switches using the advanced design systems software tool (ADS).Micro electro mechanical systems are recent development technologies which has better characteristics performance and also operating at microwave range of frequencies. Fundamentally MEMS switches can be categorized into two types series switches (ohmic typ...

Remote electrostatic actuation provides a promising method for servicing or deorbiting spacecraft at geosynchronous orbit. This method requires electrostatic modeling more efficient than current commercial finite element analysis software. The Multi-Sphere Method (MSM) provides a way to model electrostatic effects faster than real time by replacing spacecraft with charged sphere distributions. ...