Development of a micro-manipulator based on piezoelectric-technology

Abstract

In this Paper, we present a new piezoelectric micro-manipulator on printed circuit board (PCB). The micro-system technology at the University of Rostock deals with micro-fluidic systems based on printed circuit board technology [ T. Merkel, M. Gräber, L. Pagel, A new technology for fluidic micro-systems based on PCB technology, Sensors Actuat. A 77(2) (1999) 98–105.]. Down to the present day, a thermo-pneumatic micro-membrane pump [ A. Wego, L. Pagel, A self-filling micro-pump based on PCB technology, Sensors Actuat. A 88 (2001) 220–226.], diverse micro-mixers [ H. Götze, St. Gaßmann, L. Pagel, Design and Testing of static laminar diffusion mixer with convective cross mixture based on PCB technology, in: Micro-mech. Europe 2005, Göteborg, Sweden, (2005) 334–337. H. Götze, St. Gaßmann, L. Pagel, Entwicklung und vergleich auf leiterplattentechnologie basierender statischer mikro-mischer, in: MST Kongress 2005, Freiburg, Germany, D01 (2005) 689–692.], a pH-regulation system [ C. Läritz, L. Pagel, A micro-fluidic pH-regulation system based on printed circuit board (PCB) technology, Sensors Actuat. A 84 (2000) 230–235.] and a flow-injection-analysis-system were constructed. One application for these systems is the supply of cell cultures with nutrients. The introduced micro-manipulator was developed to handle these cell cultures, but can be used also in the microscopy. The structure and functionality and as well their special qualities are described. The micro-manipulator combines a micro-gripper and a xyz – micro-positioning system.