A PZT-Driven 6-DOF High-Speed Micromanipulator for Circular Vibration Simulation and Whirling Flow Generation

Existing micromanipulation methods, whether contact micromanipulation or non-contact micromanipulation, can hardly meet the requirements of low damage and multiple functions in the biomedical field. This study provides a high-speed micromanipulator that can simulate circular vibrations and generate microflow, which could be utilized to actuate non-invasive multiple operations of biological targets at the microscale. We design a PZT-driven 6-DOF micromanipulator with a hybrid structure and flexible hinges. Two 3-PRS parallel modules are serially connected in mirror style to achieve high speed, high accuracy, and a big workspace simultaneously, which enables the highly-controllable circular vibration simulation and strong whirling flow generation. The static, dynamic, and trajectory tracking performances were evaluated. The experimental result showed the 324 × 331 × 40 μm3 workspace, which was also the range of trajectories that could be generated. Trajectory tracking performance evaluation showed that it could realize ∼200 Hz circular vibration with an error of about 2.4% through open-loop control. Finally, the microflow generation experiment indicated the great potential of the proposed micromanipulator and the method of whirling flow generation in operating the biological targets at the microscale.