Static and Vibration Analyses of a Three-Dimensional Snake-Like Micropositioning Stage

Abstract

This paper presets three degrees of freedom (DOF) piezoelectric micropositioning stage. The stage is composed of a stack of piezodisk bender actuators actuated in such a way to prevent the end-effector from rotating; this way the end-effector can only translate along the x, y, and z axes. Thanks to its snake-like configuration, the system is capable of large displacements (of the order of 50 μm) with low driving voltages (of the order of 100 V). Several lumped-mass static and dynamic models of the device have been implemented. Static experimental results, which are in agreement with simulation data, confirmed the performances of the device. A dynamic model showed the natural frequencies of the mechanism. Also dynamic tests have been conducted in order to validate the dynamic model.