Integrated Actuation, Alignment, and Latching for Reconfigurable Assembled 3D MEMS

首席研究员carol Livermore和George barbastaas表示：“该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。”这项研究的智力价值在于创造了一种新的、广泛适用的方法，用于从易于制造的、可折叠的2D前体中创建复杂的3D MEMS，并进行了定量分析和实际演示，将验证该方法的重要性能。特别是，知识价值的焦点是创造和演示一种新的机械锁定方法，根据系统的设计要求，将2D前体永久或可重新配置地定位在彼此相对的适当位置。本研究的优点在于其建立在先前的，成功的MEMS级联机械对准机构的建模和实验研究的基础上，并且通过将新的锁存机构集成到一个完整的系统中来驱动，对准和锁存结构在一起。进一步的智力优点在于所提出的集成方法的独特性和简单性，该方法能够使用非常简化的微加工和装配过程创建各种可能的3D结构；为实际系统提供强大的应用研究，并作为进一步研究的支持工具。拟议研究的智力价值取决于pi在MEMS，组装和光学方面的资格，这使得他们非常适合进行这项研究。闩锁研究将被组织为(1)设计、分析和演示制造的闩锁机构，然后与定位前驱体的驱动和对准机构协同工作；(2)设计、实现和实验表征通过耦合驱动、对准和闭锁组装的集成系统；(3)对其能力和局限性的理论和实验评价，包括作为次要目标的结构定位精度作为结构复杂性和各向异性的函数的定量测量；(4)识别和测量装配过程中的误差，并识别和演示替代设计，如不同的铰链或闩锁结构，以减少这些误差。这项研究的更广泛的影响在于学生的参与，结果的广泛传播，以及这项研究将使新的外展活动成为可能。它将为研究生和本科生提供参与多学科，多尺度研究的绝佳机会，为他们未来广泛的职业生涯做好准备。本项目产生的研究成果和设计方案将广泛传播，以最大限度地发挥科学、技术和企业的影响。最后，研究结果将通过演讲和设计活动带给代表性不足的年轻群体，特别是女性，在这些活动中，学生们将面临设想基础物理基础、规模依赖、利用和应用的挑战。拟议的项目将为广泛适用的解决方案提供创新，高影响力的研究，以解决如何以最小的成本，最小的难度和最大的几何精度组装复杂的3D MEMS的挑战性和长期存在的问题。通过拟议的技术研究和拟议的教育活动，该项目将同时实现新知识、新系统和新应用，同时帮助吸引新一代学生进入工程和小型系统领域。

Integrated Actuation, Alignment, and Latching for ReconfigurableAssembled 3D MEMSPrincipal InvestigatorsCarol Livermore and George Barbastathis"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."The intellectual merit of this research lies in the creation of a new, widely-applicable method for creating complex 3D MEMS from readily-fabricated, foldable 2D precursors, and in the quantitative analysis and practical demonstrations that will validate the method's significant performance capabilities. In particular, the focal point of the intellectual merit is the creation and demonstration of a new mechanical latching methodology to locate the 2D precursors permanently or reconfigurably in their proper positions with respect to one another, as determined by the system's design requirements. The merit of this research is reinforced by its founding on prior, successful modeling and experimental research on cascaded mechanical alignment mechanisms for MEMS, and by the integration of the novel latching mechanisms into a complete system for actuating, aligning, and latching the structures together. Further intellectual merit lies in the uniqueness and simplicity of the proposed integrated approach which enables a diverse range of possible 3D structures to be created using a much simplified microfabrication and assembly process; and powerful applications research for practical systems and as an enabling tool for further research. The intellectual merit of the proposed research is anchored on the PIs' qualifications in MEMS, assembly, and optics, which make them uniquely suited to conduct this research.Latching research will be organized as (1) design, analysis, and demonstration of latching mechanisms that are fabricated and then function in tandem with the actuation and alignment mechanisms that locate the precursors; (2) design, implementation, and experimental characterization of integrated systems that assemble via coupled actuation, alignment, and latching; (3) theoretical and experimental evaluation of their capabilities and limitations, including as a subordinate goal the quantitative measurement of structural positioning accuracy as a function of structure complexity and anisotropy; and (4) identification and measurement of the errors in the assembly process, and the identification and demonstration of alternate designs such as different hinges or latch structures to reduce those errors.The broader impacts of this research are in the student involvement, the broad dissemination of results, and in the new outreach activities that the research will enable. It will provide an excellent opportunity for both graduate and undergraduate students to participate in multidisciplinary, multi-scale research, preparing them for a wide range of future careers. The research results and design protocols that emerge from this project will be widely disseminated to maximize scientific, technological and entrepreneurial impact. Finally, the results will be brought to younger under-represented groups, particularly women, through presentations and design activities in which students are challenged to envision fundamental physics underpinnings, scale-dependence, utilization, and applications.The proposed project will enable innovative, high-impact research on broadly-applicable solutions to the challenging and long-standing question of how best to assemble complex 3D MEMS with minimal cost, minimal difficulty, and maximum geometric accuracy. Through the proposed technical research and the proposed educational activities, the project will simultaneously enable new knowledge, new systems, and new applications while helping to draw a new generation of students into the fields of engineering and small-scale systems.