Collaborative Research: Micro/Meso-Scale Machine Tool Systems

这一合作研究项目针对的是一种新的技术，通过其效率接近大规模生产的方法来生产微/中尺度部件。实现这一能力的关键将是创造体积约为1立方米的“小型化”机床系统(称为中型机床，MMT)。这些系统是为了满足快速增长的微细/中观级别(0.01-10.00 mm范围)的3D零件和零件特征的需求，这些零件特征所用的材料包括不锈钢、钛、铝、铂、铱和其他材料，目前正通过使用超精密数控机床来满足这些需求。机床与工件的体积比充其量为106或更高是很常见的，这种情况会对精度、精度和整体效率产生不利影响。用于微电子机械系统(MEMS)的流行微电子制造技术及其副产品又受到限制，因为它们不能在广泛的材料中制造任意的3D特征，并且受到有限的相对精度的限制。然而，基于MEMS的技术是批量型的，导致了廉价的大规模生产，而超精密数控工艺是串行的，固有的昂贵，不容易适应大规模生产。目标是通过大规模并行的方式应用这些MMT来满足生产率要求。可以设想，类似于计算机系统，MMT将等同于即插即用板，并被视为可更换的实体。为了便于将这些机器集成到一个系统中，资源和信息分配机制将由一种在概念上类似于计算机的“总线”的体系结构来建立，该体系结构向/从各个机器提供能量、控制/反馈信息以及材料和工具。预计该项目将证明，以比现有系统低两三个数量级的成本建造MMT系统是可能的。

This collaborative research project is directed towards a new technology for the production of micro/meso-scale components by methods whose efficiency approaches that of mass production. Key to achieving this capability will be the creation of "miniaturized" machine tool systems (referred to as meso-Machine Tools, mMTs) whose volume is on the order of 1 dm3. These systems are required to meet the rapidly growing demand for 3D parts and part features at the micro/meso-level (0.01 - 10.00 mm range) in materials that include stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, platinum, iridium and others is currently being met by using ultra-precision CNC machine tools. It is common to have machine-to-workpiece volume ratios of 106 or higher at best, a situation that adversely affects accuracy, precision and overall efficiency. The prevalent microelectronic fabrication techniques and their spin-offs used for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) are, in turn, are limited by their inability to produce arbitrary 3D features in a wide range of materials and by their limited relative accuracy. However, to their advantage, MEMS-based technologies are batch type, leading to cheap mass production, while ultra-precision CNC processes are serial, inherently expensive and not easily adaptable to mass production.The goal is to meet productivity requirements by applying these mMT in a massively parallel fashion. It is envisioned that the mMTs, in analogy to a computer system, will be equivalent to plug-and-play boards and treated as replaceable entities. To facilitate an integration of such machines into a system, resource and information distribution mechanisms will be established by an architecture, similar in concept to the "bus" of a computer, that supplies energy, control/feedback information, and materials and tools to/from the individual machines. It is anticipated that the project will demonstrate that it is possible to build mMT systems for costs two or three orders of magnitude below existing systems.