Novel design of a 3-PUU spatial compliant parallel micromanipulator for nanomanipulation

According to the requirement of nanomanipulation, a new three-prismatic-universal-universal (3-PUU) spatial compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) utilizing flexure joints has been proposed in this paper. The system is configurated by a proper selection of hardware and analyzed based upon the established pseudo-rigid-body (PRB) model. The position and velocity kinematic modelings have been performed in details afterwards. In view of the physical constraints imposed by piezoelectric actuators and flexure hinges, the CPM´s workspace range is determined analytically. Particularly, it is illustrated that the CPM possesses a fairly regular like workspace with a maximum cuboid defined as usable workspace inscribed and one isotropic configuration involved. Furthermore, the architecture design of the CPM with the goal of achieving a maximum usable workspace is carried out, and the dexterity performance over the workspace has been verified. Simulation results reveal that the compact CPM can perform a high dexterous manipulation within the usable workspace.