Compliant Continuous-Locking Micro Mechanism

Design of a Locking Mechanism for Frequency Tuning

Master thesis (2015)

Authors

Contributors

N. Tolou (mentor)
J.L. Herder (mentor)
Programme
Mechatronic System Design (MSD) (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2015 Van Bracht, S.
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Published Date

12-11-2015

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Programme

Mechatronic System Design (MSD)

Abstract

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) often require tuning to correct for fabrication errors such as changed dimensions or to adapt for a different scenario such as changed temperature. To prevent continuous power consumption for maintaining system behavior, a locking system can be added which does not require any power during operation. A new comb finger locking mechanism design is proposed using an orthogonal spring force on a moving shuttle to generate a locking force in the motion direction through friction. Multiple contact points are placed in line with the spring force to increase the locking force in a volumetric efficient way. The spring is optimized for high locking force but low sensitivity to fabrication errors. Mechanism design is illustrated and successfully tested using a case study example.