Design and Analysis of Quartz Crystal Microbalance with a New Ring-Shaped Interdigital Electrode.

In this paper, a new type of ring-shaped interdigital electrode is proposed to improve the accuracy and repeatability of quartz crystal microbalance. The influence of different types of single finger, dot finger, dot double-finger electrodes on mass sensitivity distribution as well as the optimal proportion of finger and gap width are obtained through multi-physical coupling simulation. The results show that the design criteria of interdigital electrodes will not change with the increase in the number of fingers. The gap width should obey the decrease order from central to edge and be about twice the width of finger. The width of the outermost finger and the radius of the middle dot electrode should be maintained at about 0.4 and 0.2 times of the total electrode radius. An experiment was carried out to verify that the quartz wafer with a dot double-finger electrode has high quality factors and less modal coupling, which can satisfy the engineering application well. As a conclusion, this study provides a design idea for the electrode to maintain a uniform distribution of quartz crystal microbalance mass sensitivity.

Investigating the Mechanical Performance of Bionic Wings Based on the Flapping Kinematics of Beetle Hindwings.

The beetle, of the order Coleoptera, possesses outstanding flight capabilities. After completing flight, they can fold their hindwings under the elytra and swiftly unfold them again when they take off. This sophisticated hindwing structure is a result of biological evolution, showcasing the strong environmental adaptability of this species. The beetle's hindwings can provide biomimetic inspiration for the design of flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FWMAVs). In this study, the Asian ladybird (Harmonia axyridis Pallas) was chosen as the bionic research object. Various kinematic parameters of its flapping flight were analyzed, including the flight characteristics of the hindwings, wing tip motion trajectories, and aerodynamic characteristics. Based on these results, a flapping kinematic model of the Asian ladybird was established. Then, three bionic deployable wing models were designed and their structural mechanical properties were analyzed. The results show that the structure of wing vein bars determined the mechanical properties of the bionic wing. This study can provide a theoretical basis and technical reference for further bionic wing design.

Design and integrated stroke sensing of a high-response piezoelectric direct-drive valve enhanced by push-pull compliant mechanisms.

Enhancing the dynamic bandwidth of flow control valves based on piezoelectric actuators has attracted much attention in the field of precision fluid control. This paper reports a high-speed piezoelectric direct-drive flow control valve with an enhanced flow rate by introducing a new push-pull complementary compliant mechanism. An improved semi-rhombus compliant amplifying mechanism is designed to amplify the microstroke of piezo-stacks with an enhanced resonance frequency. To facilitate the design, the dynamic stiffness model of the compliant amplifying mechanism is derived and the structural parameters are optimized using the Pareto multi-objective optimization strategy. In addition, a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) based high-response displacement sensor with an improved differential charge amplifier circuit is developed and integrated into the valve to measure the spool displacement in real time. A proof-of-concept prototype is fabricated, and the flow characteristics are experimentally tested in a closed-loop control with the PVDF sensor. The flow rate and dynamic bandwidth of the presented piezo-valve are evidently enhanced, reaching the dynamic bandwidth in excess of 920 Hz (-3 dB) and the flow rate of ±6 l/min (corresponding stroke is 0.2 mm) under the supply pressure of 70 bars.

Development of a multistage compliant mechanism with new boundary constraint.

This paper presents a piezo-actuated compliant mechanism with a new boundary constraint to provide concurrent large workspace and high dynamic frequency for precision positioning or other flexible manipulation applications. A two-stage rhombus-type displacement amplifier with the "sliding-sliding" boundary constraint is presented to maximize the dynamic frequency while retaining a large output displacement. The vibration mode is also improved by the designed boundary constraint. A theoretical kinematic model of the compliant mechanism is established to optimize the geometric parameters, and a prototype is fabricated with a compact dimension of 60 mm × 60 mm × 12 mm. The experimental testing shows that the maximum stroke is approximately 0.6 mm and the output stiffness is 1.1 N/µm with the fundamental frequency of larger than 2.2 kHz. Lastly, the excellent performance of the presented compliant mechanism is compared with several mechanisms in the previous literature. As a conclusion, the presented boundary constraint strategy provides a new way to balance the trade-off between the frequency response and the stroke range widely existed in compliant mechanisms.