A Microgripper with a Post-Assembly Self-Locking Mechanism.
In this work, we report a new design for an electrostatically actuated microgripper with a post-assembly self-locking mechanism. The microgripper arms are driven by rotary comb actuators, enabling the microgripper to grip objects of any size from 0 to 100 μm. The post-assembly mechanism is driven by elastic deformation energy and static electricity to produce self-locking and releasing actions. The mechanism enables the microgripper arms to grip for long periods without continuously applying the external driving signal, which significantly reduces the effects and damage to the gripped objects caused by these external driving signals. The microgripper was fabricated using a Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) wafer with a 30 μm structural layer. Test results show that this gripper achieves a displacement of 100 μm with a driving voltage of 33 V, and a metal wire with a diameter of about 1.6 mil is successfully gripped to demonstrate the feasibility of this post-assembly self-locking mechanism.
Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Ministry of Education, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. yuangm@nwpu.edu.cn.
Guangmin
G
Yuan
Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Ministry of Education, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. yuanwz@nwpu.edu.cn.
Weizheng
W
Yuan
Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Ministry of Education, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. haoyongcun@126.com.
Yongcun
Y
Hao
Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Ministry of Education, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. xiaoy@nwpu.edu.cn.
Xiaoyi
X
Li
Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Ministry of Education, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. changhl@nwpu.edu.cn.
Honglong
H
Chang
D003198:Computer Simulation; D004560:Electricity; D004581:Electronics; D004867:Equipment Design; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D055616:Microtechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
D012825:Silicon
grip; microgripper; post-assembly; self-locking