Design and Analysis of MEMS-Based Capacitive Power Inverter Using Electrostatic Transduction

In this study, a capacitive microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based DC/AC power inverter design for renewable energy applications is proposed, modeled, and analyzed. In the proposed approach, electrostatic actuation is preferred to develop a DC/AC power inverter with varying phase overlap lengths for solar energy systems. The operating voltage required during the analysis is applied to the active part as the tensile stress. Thus, the maximum displacement is achieved with less instability. The developed inverter is based on MEMS to achieve miniaturized performances, producing smooth sine wave output, efficiently obtaining the signal frequency, and low power consumption. The proposed inverter has a thickness of 325 μm, an active settlement area of 45x45x0.585 mm3, and an initial capacitance value of 2.9 pF. In addition, a 50 Hz mechanical resonance frequency was used to be compatible with the frequency of the city network. It can convert voltage values between 0.5V and 24V DC with a MEMS power inverter. Since the inverter is based on a capacitive structure, it provides near-zero power consumption. The frequency and waveform of the converted DC/AC signal match the AC signal of a power grid with an efficiency of 5%.