A miniaturized dual-slider linear actuator using electrostatic adhesion and inertia drive

Dual-slider positioning in a miniaturized system is crucial in many industrial applications. This paper presents a miniaturized dual-slider linear actuator by employing one piezoelectric element (PZT) and integrating the methods of electrostatic adhesion and inertia drive. Two inertia drive methods can be converted by clamping and releasing one of the sliders on a base. Two thin-film electrodes are mounted on the base for clamping and releasing the slider by electrostatic adhesion. The actuator can thus drive dual sliders independently by converting the two inertia drive methods. A prototype is developed with a compact size of 30 mm (L) × 11 mm (W) × 11 mm (H) to evaluate the basic performance of the actuator. The maximum driving speeds of the two sliders are 31.7 mm/s and 16 mm/s, respectively, while the resolution of them is 60 nm and 13 nm, respectively. Additionally, the actuator can drive both the two sliders for long motion ranges of 14 mm. With a compact size and excellent physical performance, the proposed device has the potential for multi-slider positioning in miniaturized equipment.