Novel Electrothermal Microgrippers Based on a Rotary Actuator System.

Area of Science:

• Mechanical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Actuator Design

Background:

• Microgrippers are essential tools in research and industry, driven by diverse actuation methods.
• Electrothermal actuators offer a promising avenue for microgripper development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and analyze a novel microgripper (Model 1) utilizing a recently proposed electrothermal rotary actuator.
• To investigate the integration of the rotary actuator into chevron-actuated microgrippers (Model 2).
• To evaluate the performance of both microgripper models for potential nanoapplications.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical analysis of the electrothermal rotary actuator, approximated by a U-shaped microactuator.
• Numerical modeling using ANSYS^TM software for validation.
• Comparison of theoretical and numerical results to assess approximation accuracy.

Main Results:

• The U-shaped approximation for the rotary actuator showed small error values, validating the theoretical model.
• Model 1 achieved a total inter-jaw displacement of 12.28 μm and a reaction force of 8.96 μN.
• Model 2 achieved a total inter-jaw displacement of 21.2 μm and a reaction force of 34.2 μN.

Conclusions:

• Both microgripper models demonstrate feasible performance parameters for various nanoapplications.
• Model 2, with its higher force and displacement, is suitable for applications requiring greater manipulation capabilities.
• The study validates the use of electrothermal rotary actuators in developing advanced microgripper systems.