In this study, a flexure-based (compliant) linear guide with a motion range comparable to its footprint is presented. The design consists of two-folded leaf springs on which torsion reinforcement structures are added. Due to these structures, only two-folded leaf springs are needed instead of a minimum of five as in preexisting designs. The new design is compared to such a preexisting design, after optimizing both on a support stiffness metric. The new design scores over twice as high on the support stiffness metric, while occupying a smaller (-33%) and a less obstructive build volume. Stress, build volume, and manufacturing limitations are taken into account. In addition, a variation on the new design using three torsion reinforced folded leaf springs is presented and optimized. This design occupies a build volume similar to the preexisting design, but scores four times higher on the support stiffness metric. A prototype of the new design is built and its parasitic eigenfrequencies are measured, validating the theoretical models (normalized mean absolute error of 4.3%).

Flexure mechanisms are popular in the precision engineering field due to their highly repeatable behavior. However, implementations are limited to small range of motion applications. In this paper, a spatial linear guide with a range comparable to the size of its footprint is presented. The design is based on two novel’Triflex’ elements in which torsion reinforcement structures are used to decrease build volume and increase guiding stiffness. The mechanism is compared to a common linear guide consisting of six folded leaf springs, after optimizing both designs. The novel linear guide shows better guiding stiffness performance, while occupying a smaller and less obstructive build volume.