A Compact 2-DOF Micro/Nano Manipulator Using Single Miniature Piezoelectric Tube Actuator

Abstract

Micro/nano manipulators using piezoelectric actuators are extensively applied in precision manipulation fields. In this article, a novel 2-DOF micro/nano manipulator with compact structure is proposed, designed, fabricated, and tested. Different movers can be actuated by only single miniature piezoelectric tube actuator (PTA) to achieve multimotion forms, including 2-DOF linear–linear motion, linear–rotary motion, and rotary–rotary motion in two orthogonal directions. Above all, the configuration and operating principle are amply depicted. Then, the theoretical analyses are accomplished to design the PTA, and the finite-element method is undertaken to validate the theoretical modeling. Ultimately, a prototype of the manipulator is manufactured and experimentally investigated for its output performances. The test results indicate that the developed manipulator can achieve the maximum rotary speed of 0.171 rad/s around the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</i> -axis and 0.169 rad/s around the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Y</i> -axis. Furthermore, the angular displacement resolutions are measured to be 0.54 and 0.57 <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">μ</i> rad around <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</i> - and <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Y</i> -axis, respectively. All the results state that the developed micro/nano manipulator not only has distinct multimotion outputs, but also possess superior characteristics in terms of both motion range and displacement resolution, which is expected to be applied into precise positioning and microassembly.