Hydraulically Boosted Micro Positioning Device
The University of Waterloo has developed a hydraulically boosted micro-positioning device that can be used to amplify or de-amplify the stroke displacement of smart material actuators (eg. piezoelectric, magnetostrictive, etc..) commonly used in micro-positioning devices. The new device can be used and applied to a variety of micro-positioning devices to induce linear and rotational movement.Previous efforts to boost stroke displacement have attempted to use mechanical levers in linear micro-positioning devices. However the application of mechanical leverage has been found to be unsatisfactory due to the corresponding reduction in device stiffness which limits the device's potential to be used in high frequency applications. The University of Waterloo has developed a novel hydraulic boosting capability that may be integrated into micro-positioning devices, such as a linear inchworm device, that will not reduce the mechanical stiffness of the device while maintaining overall cycle frequency. The hydraulic booster can be configured to either amplify (thereby increasing operational speed of the device) or to de-amplify (to improve positional accuracy and resolution) stroke displacement relative to what is achievable in currently available from conventional micro-positioning devices.
The combined ability to amplify and/or de-amplify micro-positioning device displacements should open up entire new fields of application as well as to increase the sensitivity and frequency of existing applications. A hydraulically boosted micro-positioning device will be useful in fiber optic (manufacturing, tuning, repair), high resolution microscope, and in microelectronic and microelectromechanical system (MEMS) manufacturing and alignment applications.
Type of Offer: Licensing
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