Some highlights during the microPAdS-project
1 - Study of newer materials for the develoment of high performances piezoMEMS
The performances of PMN-PT monocrystallin piezoelectric material combined with Silicone one were studied and compared with the classical PZT-Nickel materials. It appears that PMN-PT/Si offer more than five times in range of displacement than PZT/Ni. They also offer the possibility of microfabrication allowing therefore the development of smaller and smaller piezoelectric microsystems (piezoMEMS).
Two piezoelectric cantilevers (PZT/Ni and PMN-PT/Si) used for performances analysis.
2 - Self-sensing technique: embedded measurement technique for embedded microsystems
Self-sensing technique consists in using an actuator as a sensor at the same time. Self-sensing can be applied to piezoelectric microactuators with respect to the use of a convenient electronic circuit and a convenient observer. These elements are designed accordingly to the final applications (vibrations damping, micromnaipulation/microassembly, etc.) where the static, dynamics or other performances are predominant.
Diagram of the self-sensing for piezoelectric systems.
Setup used for the study of the self-sensing.
3 - New hybrid thermo-piezoelectric microactuator
High range and high resolution microactuators are capital for microassembly and micromanipulation applications. To answer this need, we developed a new kind of actuator based on the combination of the thermal principle and the piezoelectric effect. The developed actuator, called hybrid thermo-piezoelectric microactuator, can be used as elements of microgripper. A patent is pending about this new actuator.
Photo of the hybrid thermo-piezoelectric microactuator.
Photo of the hybrid thermo-piezoelectric microgripper.
4 - The MagPieR mobile microrobot (winner of the 2mm dash challenge, IEEE ICRA, Alaslka may 2010 )
In collaboration with the ISIR-Institute, Paris (contact: Stéphane Régnier and Gilgueng Hwang), FEMTO-ST has developed a mobile microrobot with 600µm in its largest dimension called MagPieR. The microrobot, developed during the microPAdS-project, has participated to the annual NIST IEEE Mobile Microrobotics Competition held in Alaska USA in May 2010 and won the "2mm dash" challenge with 28ms of performance. This performance is also the record since the existence of the competition (since 1996).
Photo of the MagPieR mobile microrobot. The robot is externally actuated by a magnetic and an electrical fields.
Left: photo of the arenna inside which the microrobot moves. Right: photo of the whole system with the magnetic sources.
Flag used to promote the MagPieR microrobot.
Diploma attesting the first prize on the 2mm dash during the competition at IEEE ICRA, Alaslka may 2010 .
