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Short Papers
A Magnetically Driven Linear Microactuator With New Driving Method
Mochimitsu Komori and Takehiro Hirakawa
AbstractElectromagnetically driven microactuators are of interest because they have the potential to generate large deections. Thus, we have been studying magnetically driven microactuators. This time, a magnetically driven linear microactuator has been newly developed by using microfabrication techniques. The microactuator is composed of a mobile microplatform (mover) with some permanent magnets (PMs) and a stator with a large number of planar coils. In this paper, two types of microplatforms are fabricated and compared with each other. Furthermore, static and dynamic characteristics of the magnetically driven linear microactuator are discussed. Index TermsLinear drive, linear PM motor, magnetic attractive force, magnetic drive, microactuator. Fig. 1. Total system of the magnetically driven linear microactuator.

I. INTRODUCTION Various kinds of microactuators using electrostatic forces, electromagnetic forces, and other forces have been studied by many researchers [1][5]. Considering electrostatic forces and electromagnetic forces, it is said that electrostatic forces are superior to electromagnetic forces for micro-sized actuators. On the other hand, a magnetically driven method for millimeter/centimeter-sized actuators is regarded as promising, because millimeter/centimeter-sized actuators might be useful for industry, and they typically can be operated at substantially smaller voltages than electrostatic actuators. Thus, there are a lot of reports on magnetically driven, small microactuators [3][5]. This time, two types of magnetically driven linear microactuators with a new driving method have been developed and compared with each other. II. MICROACTUATOR A. System
Fig. 2. Two types of microplatforms with (a) 2 2 PMs and (b) 2 3 PMs.

The total system of the magnetically driven linear microactuator is shown in Fig. 1. The system is composed of the newly developed microactuator, ampliers, a digital input and output (DIO) interface, and a personal computer. Drive signals for the microactuator are generated by the personal computer with Visual Basic programming language. The drive signals are applied to the actuator through the DIO interface and the ampliers. The ampliers with a gain of 0.2 A/V generate driving currents according to the drive signals. B. Microplatform Two types of microplatforms with some permanent magnets (PMs) are fabricated for the linear microactuator as shown in Fig. 2. One is a microplatform with 2 2 PMs and the other has 2 3 PMs. The
Manuscript received September 8, 2003; revised May 24, 2004. Recommended by Technical Editor J. T. Sawicki. M. Komori is with the Department of Applied Science for Integrated System Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan (e-mail: komori@ ele.kyutech.ac.jp). T. Hirakawa was with the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Iizuka, Fukuoka 840-8502, Japan. He is now with the Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo 107-8544, Japan. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TMECH.2005.848294

microplatform (0.15 g) with 2 2 PMs in Fig. 2(a) consists of a Permalloy thin plate with a dimension of 8.5 8.5 0.1 mm. The magnets (1.5 1.5 mm) attached to these thin plates are made from SmCo with a surface magnetic ux density = 0.16 Wb/m2 . The microplatform (0.21 g) with 2 3 PMs in Fig. 2(b) consists of a Permalloy thin plate with a dimension of 8.5 13.5 0.1 mm. The microplatforms are fabricated by using the photolithography technique. The fabrication process of the microplatforms is shown in Fig. 3. First, we make preparations for a Permalloy plate [Fig. 3(a)]. A photoresist layer is deposited on the Permalloy plate [Fig. 3(b)]. The photolithography process delivers small holes for PMs [Fig. 3(c)]. Finally, permanent magnets are attached to the Permalloy plate by putting them into the resist holes [Fig. 3(d)]. C. Stator and Planar Coil Fabrication The stator is composed of a lot of planar coils for driving the microplatforms as shown in Fig. 4(a). The stator consists of 36 (6 6) planar coils and measures 20 20 mm. Each coil has 10 turns, as shown in Fig. 4(b). The pitch of the coils is 3.4 mm. Each coil has two copper pads to apply driving currents to the actuators. In this paper, we

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Fig. 6. (a) The microplatform with 2 2 PMs. (b) The stator with 6 6 coils. Fig. 3. Fabrication process of the microplatforms by using photolithography technique.

Fig. 7. Driving methods for the microplatforms with (a) 2 2 PMs and (b) 2 3 PMs in the right direction. Fig. 4. (a) Stator with a lot of planar coils for driving the microplatforms. (b) Coil with 10 turns.

Fig. 6(a) and (b) show the photos of the microplatform with 2 2 PMs and the stator with 6 6 coils, respectively. In Fig. 6(a) four permanent magnets attached to the Permalloy plate are seen, because the microplatform is turned over. A circle around the microplatform in Fig. 6(a) is a convex lens. The stator with 6 6 planar coils is shown in Fig. 6(b). These coils are connected to the printed wiring board with the copper pads.

D. Driving Method The stator coils are excited to produce attractive forces applied to the microplatform. Six coils in a line are excited at the same time to drive the microplatform. Fig. 7 shows the driving method for the microplatform with 2 2 PMs in the right direction. The microplatform is illustrated on the stator in each gure. Each gure shows an exciting pattern of the stator just before the microplatform does a step motion in the right direction. In Fig. 7(a), the upper right-hand magnet with N pole is attracted by two adjacent coils of S pole, and the lower right-hand magnet with S pole is also attracted by a coil of N pole. As a result, the microplatform with 2 2 PMs moves in the right direction at a distance of half the coils pitch (=1.7 mm) as shown in Fig. 7(b). Next, upper left and lower left-hand magnets are attracted by two adjacent coils N and a coil S, respectively. Then, the microplatform does a step motion in the right direction as shown in Fig. 7(c). As a result, the microplatform moves a distance of half the coils pitch (=1.7 mm). The microplatform with 2 2 PMs also moves up and down in the same manner. With respect to the microplatform with 2 3 PMs, the exciting pattern of the stator is basically the same as the pattern of the microplatform with 2 2 PMs.

Fig. 5. Fabrication process in which coils are made just by using photolithography technique.

adopted a process that coils are made just by using photolithography technique as shown in Fig. 5. First, we make preparations for a polyimide lm with copper lm [Fig. 5(a)]. Photoresist is spin-coated on the copper lm [Fig. 5(b)]. Photolithography process delivers photoresist coil patterns [Fig. 5(c)]. The copper without resist is etched by FeCl3 [Fig. 5(d)]. Finally, the photoresist on the copper coils is removed as shown in Fig. 5(e). The cross section of copper wire measures 0.05 mm in width and =16 m in thickness.

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Fig. 10. Relationship between nal displacement and driving current for the microplatforms with 2 2 PMs (lled circles) and 2 3 PMs (open circles).

Fig. 8. Step responses of the microplatforms with (a) 2 2 PMs and (b) 2 3 PMs for various driving currents of 0.15, 0.25, and 0.30 A.

Fig. 11. Relationships between nal displacement and driving current for the microplatforms with (a) 2 2 PMs and (b) 2 3 PMs carrying various loads of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 g.

Fig. 9. Displacement of the microplatforms with (a) 2 2 PMs and (b) 2 3 PMs when the microplatforms are driven continuously with a driving current of 0.15 A.

III. DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS A. Step Response To investigate dynamics of the microplatforms with 2 2 PMs and 2 3 PMs, step responses were studied. Fig. 8(a) shows step responses of the microplatform with 2 2 PMs for various driving currents of

0.15, 0.25, and 0.30 A. As shown in the gure, step responses without overshoots are observed. It is found that the microplatform moves smoothly on the stator. The step responses have repeatability and accuracy to 0.1 mm. From the result, nal value (displacement) is dened by using the result in Fig. 8(a). The step responses have different nal values, which are 0.95, 1.24, and 1.38 mm for the driving currents of 0.15, 0.25, 0.30 A, respectively. These nal values (displacements) are a little smaller than an ideal displacement (=1.7 mm). Fig. 8(b) shows step responses of the microplatform with 2 3 PMs for various driving currents. The step responses have different nal displacements. This tendency is similar to that of the microplatforms with 2 2 PMs. The nal displacements for the microplatform with 2 3 PMs are larger than those for the microplatform with 2 2 PMs.

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In addition to the step responses, continuous driving characteristics of the microplatforms with 2 2 and 2 3 PMs were studied. Fig. 9(a) shows the displacement of the microplatform with 2 2 PMs with a driving current of 0.15 A. The continuous step motions are based on the step response as shown in Fig. 8(a). The nal displacement after the three step motions is 5.2 mm, which is equivalent to one and a half coils. Fig. 9(b) shows the continuous displacement of the microplatform with 2 3 PMs. The step motion for the microplatform with 2 3 PMs is similar to that for the microplatform with 2 2 PMs. B. Evaluations Final values (displacements) are dened by using the experimental results shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 10 shows the experimental result for the microplatforms with 2 2 PMs (lled circles) and 2 3 PMs (open circles). Each nal value (displacement) increases with increasing current in the range up to 0.3 A. The maximum displacements are about 1.38 and 1.81 mm. Final displacements of the microplatforms with 2 2 PMs and 2 3 PMs were measured with some loads of 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, and 0.3 g. The results for the microplatforms with 2 2 PMs and 2 3 PMs are shown in Fig. 11(a) and (b), respectively. From Fig. 11, the nal displacement for each load increases with increasing driving current. The displacement also increases with decreasing carrying loads. The nal displacements in Fig. 11 are smaller than the displacements without loads in Fig. 10. In general, the displacements in Fig. 11(b) are larger than those in Fig. 11(a). IV. CONCLUSION In this study, the magnetically driven linear microactuator using microsystem fabrication techniques is successfully developed. From the results, the driving method is found to be available for driving the microplatform. The nal values of the step responses depend on the driving currents. From the study on carrying capacity, it is found that the microplatform carries about the same load as itself. The microplatform shows the continuous motion according to the computer signals. As a result, the microactuator mentioned previously is found to be useful for some kinds of applications such as microconveyer. REFERENCES
[1] K. S. J. Pister, R. S. Fearing, and R. T. Howe, A planar air levitated electrostatic actuator system, in Proc. IEEE MEMS Workshop, Napa Valley, CA, Feb. 1990, pp. 6771. [2] H. Guckel, K. J. Skrobis, T. R. Christenson, J. Klein, S. Ham, B. Choi, E. G. Lovell, and T. W. Champman, Fabrication and testing of the planar magnetic micromotor, J. Micromech. Microeng., vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 135138, Sep. 1991. [3] M. Komori and T. Yamane, Magnetically levitated micro PM motors by two types of active magnetic bearings, IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 4349, 2001. [4] B. Wagner, M. Kreutzer, and W. Benecke, Permanent magnet micromotors on silicon substrates, J. Microelectromech. Syst., vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 2329, Mar. 1993. [5] L. K. Lagorce, O. Brand, and M. G. Allen, Magnetic microactuators based on polymer magnets, J. Microelectromech. Syst., vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 29, Mar. 1999.

Uncoupling Micromachined-Based Piezoelectric Accelerometer Performance From a Sensor Structure Transfer Function
Yu-Hsiang Hsu, Chih-Kung Lee, Long-Sun Huang, Chih-Cheng Chu, and Ta-Shun Chu
AbstractA smart structure technology for autonomous gain and phase tailoring was adapted to develop a new accelerometer that possesses both an excellent low-frequency response and a high operational bandwidth. The freedom associated with the uncoupling of the gain and phase tailoring to an accelerometer-based structure transfer function can be shown to vastly expand the performance area of traditional accelerometers. We used free-fall detection to demonstrate this newly found capability with its wide applicability to portable devices and which is perceived as extremely difcult to pursue for magnetic disk drives. A micromachined accelerometer was developed to demonstrate the expanded applicability of this innovative concept that integrates smart structure technology to accelerometer design. Both theoretical derivations and experimental verication of this new class of accelerometers are detailed in this paper. Index TermsFree-fall sensors, microsensors, point sensors, smart structures.

I. INTRODUCTION Because the performance of an accelerometer is most prominently demonstrated by its frequency response, the frequency and the damping factor associated with the rst resonant mode becomes the primary design concern whenever a new potential accelerometer is developed. In fact, this implicit rule of thumb effectively limits an accelerometer bandwidth to 1/10 to 1/5 of its rst resonant frequency such that the achieved linearity and accuracy will be better than 510% [1]. Because accelerometer performance is so tightly linked to the base structure, the operational bandwidth and the sensitivity required almost immediately determine the size of the accelerometer. In this article we incorporate smart structure technology developed over the past two decades [2] into an accelerometer design. This concept provides us with a method to vastly expand the design freedom of accelerometers, which was rst reported by Hsu and Lee in 2002 [3]. At that time, to clearly illustrate the impact of this series of sensors, the concepts of point-distributed sensors (named PoD sensors) and APROPOS devices (acronym for autonomous phase-gain rotation/linear piezoelectric optimal sensing) were described [3]. This study reported that the usable bandwidth of this newly developed accelerometer can be enhanced by incorporating an APROPOS device onto a PoD sensor, as gain and phase tailoring are autonomous [3]. To verify the sensitivity and applicability of this newly invented piezoelectric accelerometer as a micromachine-based device and to explore application areas not attainable by previous accelerometers, a free-fall motion was chosen as the metrology target in this article [4]. It is worth noting that free-fall sensing has been deemed an important research and development target of the magnetic
Manuscript received October 15, 2003; revised July 12, 2004 and January 17, 2005. This work was supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan, R.O.C., under Grant NSC 85-2622-E-002-017R, Grant NSC 86-2622-E-002023R, Grant NSC 88-2218-E-002-005, and Grant NSC 88-2622-E-002-001. Recommended by Technical Editor J. von Amerongen. Y.-H. Hsu was with the Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. He is now with the University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 USA (e-mail: yuhsiang@uci.edu). C.-K. Lee, L.-S. Huang, C.-C. Chu, and T.-S. Chu are with the Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. (e-mail: cklee@ntu.edu.tw; lshuang@mems.iam.ntu.edu.tw; ccchu@mems.iam.ntu. edu.tw; tschu@mems.iam.ntu.edu.tw). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TMECH.2005.848301

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