Micropositioning device using impact force of piezoelectric flying wires

In this paper, a micropositioning device for precision positioning of miniaturized parts is proposed. This device uses piezoelectric flying wires to generate impact forces for actuating a target object to be positioned. The proposed device features two main characteristics: the impact force can actuate a half-tightened object with a high degree of precision, and the thin flying wire is suitable for the actuation of miniaturized object. Fundamental properties of the proposed device were examined experimentally and theoretically based on a basic positioning unit. Furthermore, for the practical application in assembly works, the control system for a three degrees-of-freedom micropositioning device with positioning range of (/spl plusmn/250 /spl mu/m, /spl plusmn/250 /spl mu/m, /spl plusmn/30 mrad) along the X-, Y-, and /spl Theta//sub z/-axes was implemented. The target object (16/spl times/24/spl times/6 mm) was successfully positioned with positioning accuracies of (/spl plusmn/1 /spl mu/m, /spl plusmn/1 /spl mu/m, /spl plusmn/0.2 mrad), based on a derived heuristic control model.