Electrostatic rotation of Plexiglas disc supported on air bearing

Abstract

Electrostatic motors have many advantages such as convenience in fabrication and compactness. In this paper, a rotational electrostatic motor with air bearing (350 mum gap) is designed and fabricated. The components of this motor include a disc as rotor and one or two series of electrodes with rotational arrangement which are fabricated by PCB technology, as stator. hi this study, rotor is Plexiglas disc with 38 mm in diameter and 1 mm thickness. To reduce friction between rotor and stator an air bearing is used. Also, kinetics, design and fabrication process of a prototype is described and then some parameters influencing on motor operation is investigated experimentally. Results show successful motor operation and In addition high rotational velocity is archived in this motor.