In this study, a novel micro-gripper using a piezoelectric actuator was designed and improved by the design of experiments (DOE) approach. Using a bending PZT actuator connected to the micro-gripper by a rigid wedge can be considered as a novel approach in this field. Almost all of the similar grippers in this category were former actuated by a piezo-stack which has some limitations and difficulties like fabrication in MEMS proportions. The basic design was borrowed from compliant mechanisms that are suitable for MEMS application and easy to manufacture in micro-scale because of the intrinsic integration characteristic. Since stress concentration is common in flexure hinge compliant mechanisms, our focus was to consider strength as an important factor in our design. Finite element analysis tools were used to implement the DOE based on two criteria; minimizing stress concentration and maximizing the output displacement in the micro-gripper structure as much as possible with the consideration of the total size of the gripper. The experiment was performed to validate the simulation results and experiment results agreed well with the simulation one. The slight geometrical discrepancy in significant portions of structure like flexure hinges partially contributes to the accumulated error between the simulation and the experiments.

在这项研究中，通过实验设计（DOE）方法设计并改进了一种使用压电致动器的新型微型夹具。使用通过刚性楔形件连接到微型夹具的弯曲PZT执行器可以认为是该领域的一种新颖方法。该类别中几乎所有类似的夹持器以前都是由压电堆栈驱动的，该堆栈具有一些局限性和困难，例如按MEMS比例制造。基本设计是从兼容机制中借用的，这些兼容机制因其固有的集成特性而适合于MEMS应用，并且易于在微型规模上制造。由于应力集中在挠性铰链柔顺机构中很常见，因此我们的重点是将强度视为设计中的重要因素。有限元分析工具用于基于两个标准实施DOE。考虑到夹持器的总尺寸，尽可能地减小应力集中并最大程度地增加微型夹持器结构中的输出位移。进行了实验以验证仿真结果，并且实验结果与仿真结果吻合良好。在结构的重要部分（如挠性铰链）中的微小几何差异部分地导致了仿真和实验之间的累积误差。