Design and Rapid Prototyping of Customized Micro and Macro Compliant Mechanisms

这个项目的重点是设计和制造一类新的机械系统称为顺应机制。 顺应性装置用顺应性柔性构件代替传统上使用接头和弹簧组装的元件，所述顺应性柔性构件使用弹性变形来传递运动和力。 这使得研究更多地集中在设计和制造的表示，翻译和接口问题上，而较少关注组装和可制造性等问题。 柔顺机构的领域允许在宏观和微观水平上对器件执行设计和优化（例如， SFF和MEMS类型的制造工艺，分别），因此将提供一个独特的机会，研究干净的分离设计和制造类似的超大规模集成电路的范例。 本研究针对柔顺机构设计与制造的三个主要领域。 这项研究的基础是顺应性的设备，宏观和微观的最佳合成。 这包括三维结构的设计和分析以及与大变形相关的非线性。 还将探索基于标准化参数化组件库形成更复杂对象的能力。 由于过程通常是不一样的，设计和改进翻译工具，在表示之间移动的问题是本研究的一个关键组成部分。 将严格审查中间表示的选择，并开发适当的翻译工具。 我们的目标是在微观和宏观尺度上推动适用于多种制造工艺的中间格式。 最后，通过使用从相同的初始模型制造的宏原型来测试和改进微结构设计的能力将被开发，并且其在MEMS器件设计中的实用性将被仔细检查。

This project focuses on design and fabrication for a novel class of mechanical system known as compliant mechanisms. Compliant devices replace elements traditionally assembled using joints and springs with compliant flexible members that use elastic deformations to transmit motions and forces. This allows the research to concentrate more on representation, translation, and interface issues of design and fabrication, and less on issues such as assemble and manufacturability. The domain of compliant mechanisms allows design and optimization to be performed on devices at both the macro and micro level (e.g., SFF and MEMS-type fabrication processes, respectively), and so will afford a unique opportunity to study the clean separation of design and fabrication analogous to the VLSI paradigm. This research targets three primary areas of compliant mechanism design and fabrication. Fundamental to this study is the optimal synthesis of compliant devices, both macro and micro. This includes the design and analysis of 3-D structures and the nonlinearities associated with large deformations. The ability to form more complex objects based on a library of standardized parametric components will also be explored. As the processes are generally not the same, the issue of designing and refining translation tools to move between representations is a critical component in this research. The choice of intermediate representations will be critically examined, and the appropriate translation tools will be developed. The goal here will be to push towards intermediate formats that are suitable to multiple fabrication processes, at both the micro and macro scales. Finally, the ability to test and refine designs for micro structures by the use of macro prototypes fabricated from the same initial model will be developed, and its utility in the design of MEMS devices will be carefully examined.