"Escapement mechanisms hold back a stream of parts driven either by mechanical or pneumatic means for a length of time and release a single part as required to an assembly station. They are used in most automatic multi-component assembly equipment. They occupy a significant design space and have dynamic characteristics of their own. This research aimed to develop a novel high speed mechanism for parts escapement that occupies less design space and contributes less to the dynamic activity of the structure. Several conceptual mechanisms were generated and evaluated. A compliant mechanism that amplifies the very small displacement of a piezo actuator was selected for detailed design. A proof of concept prototype was fabricated and tested. A piezo stack was used to bend a thin, spring steel, compliant beam. Its deflection was further amplified by attaching a comparatively rigid beam extension at the end of the compliant section. The mechanism escapes parts at 16 Hz using constrained layer damping on the beam to reduce vibrations. The concept is feasible to use on production machinery and provides advantages in terms of higher operating speeds and compactness. The concept could also be used where there is a requirement of high speed gating."

This thesis deals with the development of scanning probe microscopes. Mechanical requirements for microscopes using measuring methods of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) under enviroments of an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) and variable temperatures are specified. Mechanical designs of two microscopes are discussed and their control electronics described. A special chapter is devoted to description of linear piezo manipulators and mechanical design of these prototypes.

This diploma thesis describes the piezoelectric phenomenon and its use for positioning with nanometric precision in laboratory use. In the thesis is description of direct and indirect piezoelectric phenomenon, various types of piezoelectric actuators and ways of their control with the aim of eliminating their hysteresis. The goal is to design a controller for piezo actuator built in the three-axis nanometric manipulator Thorlabs MAX341/M.

Flextensional actuators assembled in association with piezoceramics feature the amplification of nanometric displacements generated by the ceramics energy conversion. For applications that require high precision positioning or vibration response attenuation, such as hard disc reading or atomic force microscopy, a response tracking control needs to be implemented. Shell and plate piezoactuators with vibration control have been extensively studied in literature, however the design of controlled piezoelectric systems by means of the Topology Optimization Method (TOM) has not been fully explored in literature yet, and is generally focused on the frequency domain transient analysis, which employs a model reduction method for the sake of computational implementation. Dealing with transient analysis of flextensional piezoelectric actuators, an active closed loop control design is more suited for the positioning and vibration problem, which consists on measuring the outputs of the system by the closed loop sensor layer, whose signal is modified by a control gain and eventually inputted into the actuator layer so the system response signal is modulated. Aiming to enhance the active feedback control in piezoelectric actuators (PEAs), this work targets the design of the flextensional microstructure considering an active velocity feedback control (AVFC), where the active piezoelectric sensing and actuating cycles imply in an extra damping to the system. Therefore, the flextensional mechanism compliance shall be distributed within the design domain by the allocation of void regions where there should be the flexible hinges. Such a design can be accomplished by means of the TOM, which employs a systematic analysis of the dynamic model through the finite element method (FEM). In this work, the finite element (FE) system model takes into account the piezoelectric ceramics intermediate nodes, what is denominated as non-collapsed piezoelectric nodes model, and whose induced voltage during the time domain dynamic response contributes to the active control of the system. The topology optimization (TO) problem is formulated for the system vibration suppression at the restoring position and at the actuated position (positioner) subject to material volume and design variables constraints. The TOM implemented is based on the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP), the dynamic adjoint sensitivity, and on the optimization solver known as sequential linear programming (SLP). To illustrate the method, bidimensional examples of optimized topologies are numerically obtained by employing different velocity feedback control gains, and the topologies efficiency are compared and contrasted. / Atuadores piezoelétricos flextensionais funcionam como amplificadores nanométricos dos deslocamentos gerados pela piezocerâmica. Em sistemas que necessitam de alta precisão de posicionamento final ou baixa energia de vibração após sofrer um impacto, como na leitura de um disco rígido ou na microscopia de força atômica, requer-se que o atuador conte com um fator de correção de posicionamento, o qual pode ser obtido através de uma lei de controle. A utilização de material piezoelétrico para o controle de vibração em dispositivos de casca e placa foi amplamente abordado na literatura, porém o projeto de sistemas piezoelétricos controlados utilizando-se do Método da Otimização Topológica (MOT) foi pouco explorado e em geral é focado na análise transiente no domínio da frequência, o qual necessita que o problema tenha que ser reduzido para que a implementação computacional torne-se viável. Tratando-se de análise transiente em atuadores piezoelétricos flextensionais pode-se considerar o emprego de um controle ativo, o qual captura informações do dispositivo através de piezo-sensores e as realimenta na forma de um sinal de entrada em piezo-atuadores para modulação do sinal de resposta. Visando aprimorar o efeito do controle ativo em atuadores piezelétricos, este trabalho é voltado para o projeto de sua estrutura flextensional considerando o controle ativo de realimentação de velocidade, em que o ciclo envolvendo sensoreamento e atuação piezoelétricos fornece um amortecimento extra ao sistema. Deseja-se portanto que a flexibilidade do mecanismo flextensional seja distribuída no domínio de projeto pré-definido alocando vazios em regiões ao redor de onde devem estar presentes articulações da estrutura flexível, o que é obtido pelo MOT. Para encontrar a distribuição otimizada de material no domínio de projeto, o MOT emprega a análise sistemática do modelo dinâmico através do Método dos Elementos Finitos (MEF). Neste trabalho a modelagem do sistema para o MEF leva em consideração a presença dos nós intermediários das cerâmicas piezoelétricas, denominada modelagem para nós não colapsados, cuja tensão gerada ao longo da resposta dinâmica temporal influencia no controle ativo do sistema. O problema de Otimização Topológica (OT) é formulado para a atenuação da vibração do sistema em posição neutra e em posição atuada (posicionador) sujeito a restrições de volume e a valores máximo e mínimo que as variaveis de projeto assumem. A implementação do MOT é baseada no modelo de material denominado Material Isotrópico Sólido com Penalização (MISP), no cálculo da sensibilidade dinâmica adjunta, e na rotina de otimização conhecida como Programação Linear Sequencial (PLS). Para ilustrar o método, são projetados dispositivos bidimensionais e diferentes ganhos de controle de realimentação de velocidade são utilizados para obtenção da topologia otimizada, analisando-se a eficiência em cada caso.