The DENSO Micro-Car is a miniature version of
Toyota's first passenger car, the 1936 Model AA sedan.
Its size is astounding: 1/1000th the size of the actual
car or about the size of a grain of rice. Dimensions
are: 4.785 mm long, 1.73 mm wide and 1.736 mm tall.
The Micro-Car has a total of 24 parts which come in
13 different types including body, tires, spare tire,
wheels, axle, bearings, headlights, rearlights, front
bumper, rear bumper, step, number plate and emblem.
To give you an idea of how tiny the car is, you can
compare it to the width of a human hair, which is about
80 micron measurements (one micron equals 0.001 mm).
Some Micro-Car statistics are:
Stainless steel bumper – 50 microns thin and
220 microns wide.
Wheels – 500 microns in diameter.
Number plate – 200 microns high and 400 microns
wide.
A 0.67 mm-sized magnetic-type working motor consisting
of five different parts including a magnet and core
powers the tiny car. When supplied with 3V 20 mA of
alternating current through an 18-micron-thin copper
wire, the engine can run at 600 rpm.
Why Build a Micro-Car?
DENSO Research Laboratories in Aichi Prefecture, Japan,
developed the Micro-Car to demonstrate the potential
of micro-machine technology in both industrial and medical
applications. Researchers also wanted to improve DENSO's
capabilities in ultra-precision machining and semi-conductor
processing technologies.
Although an emerging technology today, the future of
micromachine technology holds limitless potential in
the areas of industrial and medical applications.
1996 Model
To that end, DENSO researchers succeeded in 1996 in
eliminating the energy source copper wire that powered
its 1995 Micro-Car.
The 1996 model has no wire at all. Instead, it receives
its power through remote magnetic energy transmission.
"Wireless, non-contact energy supply is crucial
to the success of future industrial and medical applications
of micromachine technology," says researcher Dr.
Tadashi Hattori of DENSO Research Laboratories in Nisshin,
Japan.
Hattori explains, "A wireless, micro-robot would
be able to travel where human beings could not. For
example, it could be sent to the interior of a nuclear
power plant to repair defects or gather information.
Or through veins or arteries to treat defects without
major sugery."
In the 1996 model, an arm and attached permanent magnet
rock back and forth like a child's teeter-totter when
AC is applied to coils located under the racing track.
Latches attached to the end of the arm engage sprockets,
thus providing forward motion.
| 1996
Model Statistics |
| Permanent
magnet |
SmCo
|
| Teeth
on sprocket: |
16
|
| Coil: |
1000
T |
| Power: |
100
VA |
| Frequency: |
8-12
Hz |
| Vehicle
Speed: |
5-6
mm/sec |
DENSO Research Laboratories focuses its research on
semiconductors, information and communications systems,
display technologies, micromachine technology and robotics.