Compliant Parallel Micromanipulator Research Articles

Compliance and Kinetostatics of a Novel 2PRS-2PSS Compliant Parallel Micromanipulator: Modeling and Analysis.

A novel 2PRS-2PSS (P represents the prismatic pair, R represents the revolute hinge, S represents the spherical hinge) compliant parallel micromanipulator with two translational DOFs and two rotational DOFs is presented, and its compliance model and kinetostatic model are sequentially developed and analyzed. Initially, an analytical model used to describe the compliance of this micromanipulator was developed using the compliance matrix method (CMM). Through a comparison with finite element analysis, the accuracy of this analytical model is confirmed, and the influence of various dimensional and structural parameters on the compliance behavior is investigated. Subsequently, the micromanipulator is treated as an equivalent spring system, allowing for the derivation of its governing equation based on the established compliance model. From this equation, a kinetostatic model relating input forces to output displacements is derived. Validation of this model is performed by comparing analytical results with finite element simulations under specific motion trajectories, revealing a maximum relative error of 6.18%. This close agreement verifies the accuracy of the kinetostatic model. Finally, the impact of the parameters of the flexure hinge on the mapping matrix is examined to offer insights into minimizing undesired displacements, providing valuable guidance for optimizing the micromanipulator's performance.

Design and analysis of a novel large-range 3-DOF compliant parallel micromanipulator

Compared with the traditional rigid mechanism, the flexible mechanism has more advantages, which play an important role in critical situations such as microsurgery, IC (integrated circuit) fabrication/detection, and some precision operating environment. Especially, there is an increasing need for 3-DOF (degrees-of-freedom) compliant translational micro-platform (CTMP) providing good performance characteristics with large motion range, low cross coupling, and high spatial density. Decoupled topology design of the CTMP can easily realize these merits without increasing the difficulty of controlling. This paper proposes a new three DOF compliant hybrid micromanipulator which have large range of motion up to 100 μm × 100 μm × 100 μm in the direction in the dimension of 90 mm × 90 mm × 50 mm, smaller cross-axis coupling (the max coupling only 2.5%) than the initial XY compliant platform in XY axial.

Design and kinematics of a 3-DOF compliant triglide micromanipulator

This paper proposes a novel 3-degrees of freedom (DOF) compliant parallel micromanipulator. The design of the mechanism is based on triglide parallel manipulator. The compliant version of the triglide is prepared by making use of flexure joints. Displacement amplifiers are incorporated in the design to increase range of motions. The pseudo-rigid-body modeling technique is then used to formulate and solve the inverse kinematic problem for the design. To check the correctness and accuracy of the analytical kinematic model FEA simulations are performed in Abaqus-6.14 environment. Simulation results reveal that the proposed micromanipulator can perform different motions very effectively. Additionally, it is found that results predicted by the analytical model conform very closely to the simulation outcomes. The errors are very low, and the motions involve negligible parasitic motions.

An XYZ micromanipulator for precise positioning applications

A three-degrees-of-freedom (3-DOF) monolithic compliant parallel micromanipulator with bridge-type displacement amplifier is presented in this paper. The research aims are to design a monolithic mechanism with capability of working in three translational axes and having a high resonant frequency. As a result of being precise in rotation, circular flexure hinges are adopted in the structure of the proposed mechanism and its corresponding mathematical modeling is investigated. A finite element analysis (FEA) model is developed to perform analysis and predict the behaviour of the proposed mechanism and the utilized amplifier, and thus establish the computational Jacobian, workspace and amplification ratio. The stress-strain relationship of the proposed mechanism is investigated by applying safety factor and the results are presented. Finally, an experimental study is conducted to evaluate the dynamic and tracking performances of the proposed flexure-based spatial mechanism. A feedback Proportional-Integral (PI) control methodology is implemented to enhance the mechanism positioning performance and eliminate hysteresis effect inherent in piezoelectric actuators. Based on the designed parameters, the proposed manipulator can have a large workspace, high band-width frequency, and fine tracking resolution along each working axes.

An investigation on kinematics and dynamics performance of a novel 3-PRC-compliant parallel micromanipulator

This article proposes a 3-PRC compliant parallel micromanipulator with 3 degrees of freedom. The piezoelectric actuator is adopted to drive the mechanism, and to compensate the stroke of the piezoelectric actuator, a new type of secondary lever amplification mechanism is designed. The kinematics model of the 3-PRC parallel micromanipulation platform is derived using vector method, and the forward and inverse kinematics solutions of a 3-PRC parallel micromanipulation stage are emphatically analyzed and then the Jacobian matrix of kinematics model and workspace are derived. Finally, the dynamic model is established by Lagrange equation, and the natural frequency of the mechanism is calculated. The modal analysis is carried out using finite element method. The results showed that the mechanism has a favorable performance on kinematics and dynamics, and this micromanipulator can achieve micro/nano level motion with high accuracy.

Performance analysis and optimization of a five-degrees-of-freedom compliant hybrid parallel micromanipulator

There are generally two main directions for the investigation and development of parallel manipulators, namely macro/meso stream and micro/nano stream, in which the former one has been thoroughly investigated in recent decades, while the latter one still remains many performance related open issues that significantly affect their application potentials in critical situations such as high-precision automated cell manipulation. Improving the overall performance of parallel manipulators is the bridge to connect the academia and industry for the great development and real-world application. This research is to develop a novel methodology called performance decomposition and integration for governing the design optimization process of complicated micromanipulator. A new five degrees-of-freedom (DOF) compliant hybrid parallel micromanipulator which is configured with five identical PSS limbs and one constraining UPU limb is proposed as a case study. The performance visualization, finite element analysis, and dimensional optimization are implemented. The proposed methodology is applicable for the design improvement of different kinds of compliant/parallel mechanisms. Performance is a critical topic for the further improvement of compliant parallel mechanisms.The research attempts to propose a paradigm called performance decomposition and integration to manage the overall performance of these mechanisms in a higher level.A CHPMM is proposed as an example to showcase part of the principle of PDI in the process of design and optimization.The proposed method can be well integrated with the methodology of system hybridization through the specific methods of mechanism hybridization, actuation hybridization and optimization hybridization.For the future work, a physical prototype will be manufactured to further improve the overall performance in aspects of manipulation and control under the guidance of the proposed methods.

Design and Optimization of an XYZ Parallel Micromanipulator with Flexure Hinges

In this paper, a nearly decoupled XYZ translational compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) is designed for micro/nano scale manipulation with features of piezo-driven actuators and flexure hinges. The CPM structure improvement is made to enlarge the workspace and eliminate or reduce the stress stiffening, buckling phenomenon, and parasitic motions of the original XYZ CPM, which leads to a new CPM with a more compact structure. The CPM kinematics, parasitic motions, and workspace are determined analytically, and the mathematical models describing statics and dynamics of the CPM are established to evaluate its related performances, which are verified by the finite element analysis (FEA) undertaken in ANSYS environment. Based on the analytic models, the CPM dimensions have been optimized by resorting to the particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach, which produces a CPM having minimum parasitic motions and satisfying other performance specifications as validated by the FEA simulations.

Kinematic Analysis and Optimization of a New Compliant Parallel Micromanipulator

In this paper, a new three translational degrees of freedom (DOF) compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) is proposed, which has an excellent accuracy of parallel mechanisms with flexure hinges. The system is established by a proper selection of hardware and analyzed via the derived pseudo-rigid-body model. In view of the physical constraints imposed by both the piezoelectric actuators and flexure hinges, the CPM's reachable workspace is determined analytically, where a maximum cylinder defined as an usable workspace can be inscribed. Moreover, the optimal design of the CPM with the consideration of the usable workspace size and global dexterity index simultaneously is carried out by utilizing the approaches of direct search method, genetic algorithm (GA), and particle swarm optimization (PSO), respectively. The simulation results show that the PSO is the best method for the optimization, and the results are valuable in the design of a new micromanipulator.

A novel design and analysis of a 2-DOF compliant parallel micromanipulator for nanomanipulation

A new 2-degrees of freedom compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) utilizing flexure joints is proposed for two-dimensional nanomanipulation in this paper. By a proper selection of actuators, flexure hinges, and materials, this system is constructed and analyzed by a pseudorigid-body model, architectural optimization, and finite-element analysis. Both the position and velocity kinematic modelings are established, and afterwards, statics analysis is performed. In view of the physical constraints imposed by pizeo-actuators and flexure hinges, the CPM's workspace area is determined. And in order to achieve a maximum workspace subjected to the given dexterity indices, kinematic optimization of the design parameters is carried out, which results in a manipulator satisfying the operational requirements. Furthermore, the finite-element analysis has been undertaken to validate the analytical modeling, and the influence of architectural parameters on CPM performance has been evaluated as well. Note to Practitioners-This paper is motivated by the problem of designing a nanomanipulator for two-dimensional (2-D) assembly of nanoscale objects via nanomanipulation. A novel planar parallel mechanism incorporating compliant mechanisms is designed for such a purpose. Since the application of the manipulator depends significantly on the kinematic mathematical models, the designed compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) is analyzed by the established pseudorigid-body (PRB) model. The architectural optimization leads to a CPM satisfying the workspace and resolution requirements of this work. Moreover, finite-element analysis is performed to verify the accuracy of the developed PRB model, and simulation results illustrate the efficiency of the PRB model in designing and analyzing the CPM. Since the designed CPM is composed solely of flexural elements which are known to be competent in high precise applications, it is reasonable to expect that the CPM could find its way into 2-D manipulation of nanoscale components.

A novel design of a 3-PRC translational compliant parallel micromanipulator for nanomanipulation

A novel 3-DOF prismatic-revolute-cylindrical (PRC) translational compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) has been designed for 3-D nanomanipulation in this paper. The system is configured by a proper selection of hardware and analyzed via the established pseudo-rigid-body (PRB) model. The CPM workspace is determined taking into account the physical constraints imposed by piezoelectric actuators and flexure hinges.