Design and fabrication of a two degree-of-freedom actuator utilizing flexure structure

• Main Author: Gao, Ranyu
• Other Authors: Yeo Song Huat
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75863
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Flexure mechanism is widely used in small scale displacement applications as a better alternative of traditional bearing since friction is eliminated from the system. This is due to the no sliding nature of flexure mechanism. The removal of friction from the system helps the output to get to a higher resolution. Limited number of multi DOF small scale actuators has been developed in the recent years to meet the high precision industrial requirement. Among all types of actuators, electromagnetic actuators are chosen to be the driving actuators due to their moderate force sensitivity, long stroke length and low friction nature. However, limited number of studies have been conducted on the multi DOF high precision actuators utilizing electromagnetic actuators and flexure mechanism. In this project, a 2 DOF actuator capable of outputting independent translational and rotational motion utilizing flexure mechanism was designed, simulated, fabricated and tested. The unique design of flexure mechanism, as motion guide and supporting frame, combines translational and rotational motion generated by linear and rotary actuator. The combined motion is output to one shaft in a high precision manner. The design has a linear 7.285mm and rotary 14.42degree workspace at 37.63N force and 0.855Nm torque respectively based on ANSYS simulation. In experiment, the linear and angular displacement is restricted to 2.38mm and 2.34degree respectively due to power supply restriction (only up to 3.2A current). The prototype has shown comparably high repeatability during testing which proves the validity of the flexure mechanism implementation.