Ghodssi Receives Three-Year Grant from Army Research Laboratory

Associate Professor Reza Ghodssi (ECE/ISR) has been awarded a three-year, $550,000 grant by the Army Research Laboratory's Cooperative Agreement Power Component Branch under its Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate. The project, Microball Bearing Technology in Silicon for Power MEMS, plans to improve the efficiency and reliability significantly in compact portable power generators and small engines necessary to meet soldiers' energy needs.

A key effort is to investigate the use of MEMS air/fuel control to enhance the efficiency and reliability of small liquid- and gas-fueled power sources used in generator sets, UAVs and fuel cells. Dr. Ghodssi's MEMS Sensors and Actuators Lab will be developing a design methodology and microfabrication technology for a rotary electrostatic micromotor supported on microball bearings (see illustration). The micromotor will be integrated with a mechanical micropump capable of delivering heavy liquids to a fuel atomizer for heat engines and fuel cells.

”We are very excited that our colleagues at ARL will be working with us directly on developing the next generation MEMS devices using this platform,” said Ghodssi.

Dr. Ghodssi’s research on microball bearing technology in MEMS is also currently supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (DoD MURI).

Published July 1, 2005