Development of a Novel Pile-Up Structure Based Nanopositioning Mechanism Driven by Piezoelectric Actuator

This article presents a novel piezoelectrically actuated pile-up structure based nanopositioning mechanism (PUSNM) featuring both large amplification ratio and high resonant frequency in compact structure size. First, a new piled-up structure (PUS) hierarchically constructed with hexagonal flexure beams unit (HFBU) in a parallel manner is designed. The analytical model and finite element analysis are carried out to investigate the performance of proposed PUS. Results show that the PUS can easily achieve a high amplification ratio by hierarchically constructing the HFBU or adjusting its characteristic parameters. Taking advantage of this distinguished PUS, a PUSNM is then designed and fabricated. The analytical model reveals that the proposed PUSNM can achieve an amplification ratio as large as 13.3. Moreover, the compact PUSNM can achieve a superior natural frequency up to 1211 Hz. Based on the experimentally obtained dynamics of the plant, a dynamic forward control method is designed to further enhance its performances in tracking multifrequency trajectories for practical applications in nanopositioning, micro/nanomanipulations, etc.