Open AccessDesign, analysis and fabrication of a novel six‐axis micropositioning stage
Author(s) -
Hu YaHui,
Hwu FarnShiun,
Lin KaoHui
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
iet science, measurement and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.418
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1751-8830
pISSN - 1751-8822
DOI - 10.1049/iet-smt.2012.0061
Subject(s) - fabrication , stage (stratigraphy) , materials science , computer science , optoelectronics , engineering , medicine , geology , paleontology , alternative medicine , pathology
The design and development of a novel six‐axis micropositioning stage are presented in this study. Based on Stewart's theory, negative Poisson's ratio is adopted for the design of flexure hinges for this stage. The stage consists of a top hexagonal plate, a bottom hexagonal plate and six trapezoidal amplifiers. The flexure hinge in the inner part of the amplifier has a symmetrical double layer, and that in the outer part of the amplifier has an unsymmetrical single layer. The deformation and amplification are calculated in a numerical simulation with the finite element method. An experiment for measuring the displacement of the stage is carried out. In the experiments, each amplifier is driven by a piezoelectric transducer, and the displacements are measured with a laser displacement sensor then recorded for comparison of the single‐axis amplifier with the six‐axis stage. The results show that the amplification of the displacement of a single‐axis amplifier is about 15. Also, the simulation and experimental results for the six‐axis stage show all errors of motion to be <3%. It is obvious that the novel six‐axis stage possesses the characteristics of high amplification and minimisation, as well as being low cost.