Collaborative Research: Micro/Meso-Scale Machine Tool Systems

这一合作研究项目旨在通过效率接近大规模生产的方法生产微型/中型部件的新技术。 实现这一能力的关键将是创造“小型化”机床系统（称为中型机床，mMT），其体积为1 dm 3。 这些系统需要满足快速增长的3D零件和零件特征的需求，这些零件和零件特征的材料包括不锈钢、钛、铝、铂、铱等，目前正在通过使用超精密CNC机床来满足。机器与工件的体积比通常最多为106或更高，这种情况对准确度、精度和整体效率产生不利影响。用于微机电系统（MEMS）的流行的微电子制造技术及其副产品又受到它们不能在广泛的材料中产生任意3D特征以及它们有限的相对精度的限制。然而，基于MEMS的技术是批量型的，可以实现廉价的大规模生产，而超精密CNC工艺是串行的，固有的昂贵且不容易适应大规模生产。我们的目标是通过以大规模并行方式应用这些mMT来满足生产率要求。可以设想，与计算机系统类似，mMT将等同于即插即用板，并被视为可替换实体。为了便于将这些机器集成到系统中，将通过在概念上类似于计算机的“总线”的架构来建立资源和信息分配机制，该架构向/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，有可能以低于现有系统两到三个数量级的成本建造mMT系统。

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.