Parametric study of a novel asymmetric micro-gripper mechanism

Abstract

Aiming at the requirements of micro-assembly for the microtubule (diameter of 0-200μm) components, a new type of asymmetric flexible micro-gripper mechanism based on flexure hinges was designed and studied. The asymmetric micro-gripper mechanism was driven by piezoelectric actuator, whose output displacement was amplified and transmitted by flexure hinges. The displacement amplification ratio of the asymmetric flexible micro-gripper mechanism was deduced theoretically, and the key structure parameters were developed by the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) method. The simulation and experiment were both carried out in order to study the displacement amplification ratio in detail. The experiment results show that the displacement amplification ratio of the asymmetric flexible micro-gripper mechanism is 4.16, compared with the FEA result and the theoretical calculation result, the error between them is 1.89% and 5.67%, respectively. The experiment results also show that the step-wise resolution of the micro-gripper is 7.50μm. The asymmetric flexible micro-gripper mechanism is able to perform the micro-assembly tasks for the microtubule parts, and it is helpful to design this type of micro-gripper mechanism.