Mechanical Response of Four-Bar Linkage Microgrippers with Bidirectional Electrostatic Actuation

This paper presents both an experimental and a numerical study concerning the mechanical response of a silicon microgripper with bidirectional electrostatic actuation to externally applied excitations. The experimental set-up is composed of a probe station equipped with mobile probes that apply contact forces. This part of the investigation aims to test the device’s mechanical resistance, its mobility capability and possible internal contacts during the system deformation. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the study of the free undamped vibrations of the microsystem. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is carried out to evaluate the system vibration modes. The analysis of the modes are useful to predict possible mechanical interference among floating and anchored fingers of the actuating comb drives.