Design of a new decoupled compliant XYZ parallel-kinematic nanopositioning stage

In this paper, a new decoupled XYZ compliant parallel-kinematic nanopositioning stage is devised based on flexure mechanisms. It is driven by four voice coil motors (VCMs). The flexure stage can deliver the motion along X, Y and Z axes by controlling the four actuators for the positioning of biological cells in microinjection processes. In order to pick any cell in the field of view of the microscope, the output motion of the stage is expected to be over 1 mm. So, the VCMs are chosen. The compact flexure hinges are located in pairs to decouple the cross-axis motion, to guide the output of the actuator and to balance the torque along the center of the workspace. The method for driving in Z axis also makes a big difference as compared to existing work. The obtained FEA simulation results demonstrate the performance of the designed multi-axis nanopositioning stage.