none

Micro-motion devices may share a common architecture such that they have a main body of compliant material and some direct actuation elements (e.g., piezoelectric element). The shape of such a compliant material is designed with notches and holes on it, and in this way one portion of the material deforms significantly with respect to other portions of the material a motion in the conventional sense of the rigid body mechanism. The devices of this kind are called compliant mechanisms. Computer tools for the kinematical and dynamic motion analysis of the compliant mechanism are not well-developed. In this thesis a study is presented towards a finite element approach to the motion analysis of compliant mechanisms. This approach makes it possible to compute the kinematical motion of the compliant mechanism within which the piezoelectric actuation element is embedded, as opposed to those existing approaches where the piezoelectric actuation element is either ignored or overly simplified. Further, the developed approach allows computing the global stiffness and the natural frequency of the compliant mechanism. This thesis also presents a prototype compliant mechanism and a test bed for measuring various behaviors of the prototype mechanism. It is shown that the developed approach can improve the prediction of motions of the compliant mechanism with respect to the existing approaches based on a comparison of the measured result (on the prototype) and the simulated result. The approach to computation of the global stiffness and the natural frequency of the compliant mechanism is validated by comparing it with other known approaches for some simple mechanisms.

Micro-motion devices may share a common architecture such that they have a main body of compliant material and some direct actuation elements (e.g., piezoelectric element). The shape of such a compliant material is designed with notches and holes on it, and in this way one portion of the material deforms significantly with respect to other portions of the material a motion in the conventional sense of the rigid body mechanism. The devices of this kind are called compliant mechanisms. Computer tools for the kinematical and dynamic motion analysis of the compliant mechanism are not well-developed. In this thesis a study is presented towards a finite element approach to the motion analysis of compliant mechanisms. This approach makes it possible to compute the kinematical motion of the compliant mechanism within which the piezoelectric actuation element is embedded, as opposed to those existing approaches where the piezoelectric actuation element is either ignored or overly simplified. Further, the developed approach allows computing the global stiffness and the natural frequency of the compliant mechanism. This thesis also presents a prototype compliant mechanism and a test bed for measuring various behaviors of the prototype mechanism. It is shown that the developed approach can improve the prediction of motions of the compliant mechanism with respect to the existing approaches based on a comparison of the measured result (on the prototype) and the simulated result. The approach to computation of the global stiffness and the natural frequency of the compliant mechanism is validated by comparing it with other known approaches for some simple mechanisms.

The degradation of astronomical images caused by atmospheric turbulence will be much more severe in the next generation of terrestrial telescopes and its compensation will require deformable mirrors with up to tens-of-thousands of actuators. Current designs for these correctors consist of scaling up the proven technologies of flexible optical plates deformed under the out-of-plane action of linear actuators. This approach will lead to an exponential growth of cost with the number of actuators, and in very complex mechanisms. This thesis proposes a new concept of optical correction which is modular, robust, lightweight and low-cost and is based on the bimorph in-plane actuation. The adaptive mirror consists of segmented identical hexagonal bimorph mirrors allowing to indefinitely increase the degree of correction while maintaining the first mechanical resonance at the level of a single segment and showing an increase in price only proportional to the number of segments. Each bimorph segment can be mass-produced by simply screen-printing an array of thin piezoelectric patches onto a silicon wafer resulting in very compact and lightweight modules and at a price essentially independent from the number of actuators. The controlled deformation of a screen-printed bimorph mirror was experimentally achieved with meaningful optical shapes and appropriate amplitudes; its capability for compensating turbulence was evaluated numerically. The generation of continuous surfaces by an assembly of these mirrors was numerically simulated and a demonstrator of concept consisting of 3 segments was constructed.

The degradation of astronomical images caused by atmospheric turbulence will be much more severe in the next generation of terrestrial telescopes and its compensation will require deformable mirrors with up to tens-of-thousands of actuators.<p>Current designs for these correctors consist of scaling up the proven technologies of flexible optical plates deformed under the out-of-plane action of linear actuators. This approach will lead to an exponential growth of cost with the number of actuators, and in very complex mechanisms.<p><p>This thesis proposes a new concept of optical correction which is modular, robust, lightweight and low-cost and is based on the bimorph in-plane actuation.<p><p>The adaptive mirror consists of segmented identical hexagonal bimorph mirrors allowing to indefinitely increase the degree of correction while maintaining the first mechanical resonance at the level of a single segment and showing an increase in price only proportional to the number of segments.<p><p>Each bimorph segment can be mass-produced by simply screen-printing an array of thin piezoelectric patches onto a silicon wafer resulting in very compact and lightweight modules<p>and at a price essentially independent from the number of actuators.<p><p>The controlled deformation of a screen-printed bimorph mirror was experimentally achieved with meaningful optical shapes and appropriate amplitudes; its capability for compensating turbulence was evaluated numerically. The generation of continuous surfaces<p>by an assembly of these mirrors was numerically simulated and a demonstrator of concept consisting of 3 segments was constructed. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished