doi: 10.3850/978-981-11-0749-8_720
Design and Manufacture of a Flexure-based XYZ-force Sensor
Jorge Correa, Nikhil Kapur, Shiv Kapoor and Placid M. Ferreira
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Urbana, IL, USA
Abstract
This paper deals with the design, fabrication and test of a miniaturized flexure-based XYZ sensor for force sensing. The sensor is proposed for applications such as knot tying and suturing training, microassembly and micromachining force feedback. With a small form factor, this device fits in a cube of 1 in side and has a force sensing range of 2N in the negative and positive directions. The design consists of a compact nested structure that integrates steel-inserts, aluminum stiffening elements and 3D-printed components in a manufacturing architecture that simplifies the otherwise complex construction of the device. A knot-tying test shows the capabilities of this system to quantify the magnitude of the forces as well as provide information on the quality of the motion generated.
Keywords: 3D-force sensor, flexures, Knot-tying.
