Desktop Manufacturing System for Micromachines using Concentrated Miniature Machine Tools

介绍了一种微型机械的桌面制造系统。它有一个微型机器切割微小零件;它需要低环境负荷和低工作能源。我们按照以下设计策略进行设计。(a)微型机器集中在一个固定的工件周围;机器被转移到下一个过程。(b)所设计的微型机械机构不是与大型机械机构和常规机械机构相似的小型化机构。我们实现了一个“微型加工车间”，它可以加工200 mm立方体的尺寸，并可以对1 mm立方体的工件进行米尔斯五面铣削。根据该策略，车间将4台机器、1台机械手和1台显微镜集中在工件周围，并且除了旋转电机之外还使用空气涡轮机，除了由线性滚珠导轨保持的滚珠丝杠之外，还使用由弹性变形板保持的音圈电机。我们通过金属或塑料的微铣削对其进行了评估。(1)使用空气的绝热膨胀的柱和表的冷却和在弹性变形板上的应变计的位置反馈控制使表移动进展到0.05 μ m分辨率和1 μ m可重复性。(2)在位置控制下的工作台的刚度在力作用之后不是刚刚性到10 mN/μ m，但是随后变为无限大以精确地研磨。(3)由硬质合金或金刚石制成的方棒形立铣刀可以微铣削工件以及微铣削。但是，国产或市场上可买到的立铣刀的直径不薄到50 μ m，刃口半径不锋利到0.1 μ m，我们不能切削出诸如30 μ m宽的槽。该系统是一个很有前途的微型工厂，用于单件生产，如在手术过程中切割电极或包装，或在商店切割隐形眼镜或配件的模具。

The research introduces a desk-top manufacturing system for micro-machines. It has a miniature machine to cut micro parts ; it needs low environmental load and low working energy. We designed it under the following design strategy. (a) The miniature machines are concentrated around a fixed workpiece ; the machines are transferred to the next process. (b) The designed mechanism in the miniature machines is not a similar and miniaturized mechanism of macro and conventional ones. We realized a "micro machine shop" which sizes a 200 mm cube, and which mills five faces of the workpiece of a 1 mm cube. According to the strategy, the shop concentrates 4 machines, 1 manipulator and 1 microscope around the workpiece, and employs an air turbine besides a rotation motor, a voice coil motor held by an elastically deformed plates besides a ball screw held by a linear ball guide. We evaluated it through micro-milling of metals or plastics. (1) Both cooling of a column and a table using adiabatic expansion of the air and position feedback control with strain gauges on the elastically deformed plates progress the table movement to a 0.05 mum resolution and a 1 mum repeatability. (2) Rigidity of the table under position controlling is not rigid to 10 mN/mum just after force working, but later becomes a infinity to mill precisely. (3) Square-bar-shaped endmills made of carbides or diamond can micro-mill the workpiece as well as micro-mill. But the home-made or market-available endmills are not thin to 50 mum in diameter, and not sharp to 0.1 mum in edge radius ; we can not cut a groove such as 30 mum wide. The system is a promising micro-factory for an one-item production such as cutting an electrode or a package during surgery operation, or cutting the mold of a contact-lens or an accessory in a shop.