title: Plate-shaped non-contact ultrasonic transporter using flexural vibration.
abstract: We developed a plate-shaped non-contact transporter based on ultrasonic vibration, exploiting a phenomenon that a plate can be statically levitated at the place where its gravity and the acoustic radiation force are balanced. In the experiment, four piezoelectric zirconate titanate elements were attached to aluminum plates, on which lattice flexural vibration was excited at 22.3 kHz. The vibrating plates were connected to a loading plate via flexible posts that can minimize the influence of the flexure induced by heavy loads. The distribution of the vibration displacement on the plate was predicted through finite-element analysis to find the appropriate positions of the posts. The maximum levitation height of this transporter was 256 μm with no load. When two vibrating plates were connected to a loading plate, the maximum transportable load was 4.0 kgf.
authors.affiliation: Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan. Electronic address: ishii@sonic.pi.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Takahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Kana
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Yukiyoshi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uchida
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013010:Sonication / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers; D014186:Transportation / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: Finite-element analysis; Flexural vibration; Near-field acoustic levitation; Non-contact transporter