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PUBLICATIONS

Large Stroke Electrostatic Comb-Drive Actuators Based on a Novel Flexure Mechanism

Published

Author(s)

Mohammad Olfatnia, Siddharth Sood, Jason J. Gorman, Shorya Awtar

Abstract

This paper reports in-plane electrostatic comb-drive actuators with stroke as large as 245 µm, achieved by employing a novel Clamped Paired Double Parallelogram (C-DP-DP) flexure mechanism. For a given flexure beam length (L1), comb gap (G), and actuation voltage (V), this is currently the largest comb-drive actuator stroke reported in the literature. The C-DP-DP flexure mechanism design offers high bearing direction stiffness (Kx) while maintaining low motion direction stiffness (Ky), over a large range of motion direction displacement. The resulting high (Kx /Ky) ratio mitigates the on-set of sideways snap-in instability, thereby offering significantly greater actuation stroke compared to existing designs.
Proceedings Title
Proceedings of the Hilton Head 2012: Solid-state Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Workshop
Conference Dates
June 3-7, 2012
Conference Location
Hilton Head, SC, US
Pub Type
Conferences

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Local Download

Keywords

Microelectromechanical systems, MEMS, electrostatic actuator, flexure mechanism, large stroke actuator
Nanotechnology and Nanomechanics

Citation

Olfatnia, M. , Sood, S. , Gorman, J. and Awtar, S. (2012), Large Stroke Electrostatic Comb-Drive Actuators Based on a Novel Flexure Mechanism, Proceedings of the Hilton Head 2012: Solid-state Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Workshop, Hilton Head, SC, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=911098 (Accessed October 12, 2025)

Issues

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Created June 19, 2012, Updated October 12, 2021
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