Electrical and electronic engineering; Micro-optics; Actuation displacement; Design Methodology; Fabrication tolerances; Freeform geometry; Large displacements; Low actuation voltage; Micro gripper; Micro-objects; Near-optimal; Performance; Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics; Materials Science (miscellaneous); Condensed Matter Physics; Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Abstract :
[en] This paper describes a novel electrostatically actuated microgripper with freeform geometries designed by a genetic algorithm. This new semiautomated design methodology is capable of designing near-optimal MEMS devices that are robust to fabrication tolerances. The use of freeform geometries designed by a genetic algorithm significantly improves the performance of the microgripper. An experiment shows that the designed microgripper has a large displacement (91.5 μm) with a low actuation voltage (47.5 V), which agrees well with the theory. The microgripper has a large actuation displacement and can handle micro-objects with a size from 10 to 100 μm. A grasping experiment on human hair with a diameter of 77 μm was performed to prove the functionality of the gripper. The result confirmed the superior performance of the new design methodology enabling freeform geometries. This design method can also be extended to the design of many other MEMS devices.
Disciplines :
Electrical & electronics engineering
Author, co-author :
Wang, Chen ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Montefiore Institute of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science ; College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China ; ESAT-MNS, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Wang, Yuan ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'électricité, électronique et informatique (Institut Montefiore) > Systèmes microélectroniques intégrés ; PGMF and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Fang, Weidong; College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Song, Xiaoxiao; PGMF and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Quan, Aojie; ESAT-MNS, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Gidts, Michiel; ESAT-MNS, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Zhang, Hemin; ESAT-MNS, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Liu, Huafeng ; PGMF and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Bai, Jian; College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Sadeghpour, Sina; ESAT-MNS, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Kraft, Michael ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'électricité, électronique et informatique (Institut Montefiore) > Systèmes microélectroniques intégrés ; ESAT-MNS, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Language :
English
Title :
Design of a large-range rotary microgripper with freeform geometries using a genetic algorithm.
This research was funded by the Science Challenge Project, grant no. TZ2016006-0502-02, and the National Key Research and Development Program of China, grant no. 2021YFB3201603.
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