Cartwheel flexure-based compliant stage for large displacement driven by a stack-type piezoelectric element

When the short displacement of a piezoelectric element in a compliant stage with simple flexures is amplified for large motion range by an amplification mechanism, a large displacement causes an excessive stress in a simple flexure. Moreover the excessive stress has the possibility of a yielding failure. A cartwheel flexure hinge offers the compliant stage larger displacement than the simple flexures. In this study, a compliant stage for displacement driven by a stack-type piezoelectric element is proposed. For large displacement, rotational joints are implemented by cartwheel flexure hinges. A mathematical model for compliant stage with massless flexure node is derived, and then the proposed stage is analyzed. In addition, the proposed stage is designed and manufactured. Experiments demonstrate the performance of the proposed stage.