Design and analysis of a large-stroke multi-layer XY compliant nanomanipulator of linear stiffness

This paper proposes a multi-layer compliant XY nanomanipulator. Aiming at achieving a large stroke and compact desktop-size, a spatial redundant constraint module in two layers is proposed to restrict parasitic rotations. In addition, a combined Z-shaped beam and multi-beam flexure module is proposed to realize load bearing, and a double parallelogram beam flexure module is utilized to achieve kinematic decoupling. Within the designed stroke, the stiffness of the manipulator behaves linearly. Numerous FEA simulations are conducted to show that the proposed manipulator is able to achieve ±2 × 2 mm2 operation range, and a good agreement between the theoretical analysis and numerical results.