Sterile Motors, Piezo Transducers and Precision Motion for Medical Design

PI's compact piezo steering mirror mounts provide many advantages over classical beam deflection methods. Laser beam control and focusing require high-precision positioning systems, and piezoceramic-based solutions provide precision, speed and compact size for integration into modern laser systems.

Piezo actuators also provide high reliability for demanding environments. Read: Advances in Piezo Mechanics and Eye Surgery.

Miniature hexapod positioners are suited for precision assembly and alignment of small, high-precision parts. They provide flexible motion in all degrees of freedom and a programmable center of rotation.

PI's H-810 and H-811 miniature 6-axis positioners combine the advantages of parallel-kinematic robot systems in a compact package. With a diameter of only 10 cm and a height of less than 12 cm, the M-810 offers travel ranges of up to 40 mm in XY and 13 mm in Z, and can position loads of up to 5 kg at velocities of 10 mm/s.

As with other PI parallel-kinematics positioners, six high-resolution actuators are connected directly to a single moving platform. The user can define the center of rotation independent of platform motion with a software command.

Technical specifications: M-811 Miniature 6-Axis Hexapod

Read: Hexapods Enable Precise 6-Axis Patient Positioning Couches for Radiotherapy

Piezo = Miniaturized Technology

Microdispensers take on distribution and dosing tasks where small volumes in the milliliter, microliter or nanoliter range have to be controlled.

Piezo is the Driving Force

The design is based on diaphragm pumps and valves and can also use the peristaltic principle. Miniaturized drives are based on piezoelectric actuators in various shapes and levels of integration.

Wide Range of Applications for Flexible Technology

In drug discovery, medical engineering, biotechnology and chemical analysis, tiny dispensers accurately dose active substances or medicines. Micropumps also remove reaction gases in closed processes.

Read Article: Motion Control, Piezo Transducers, Motors for Medical Design

Micro-Diaphragm Pumps

Micro-diaphragm pumps operate similarly to piston pumps, but the medium is separated from the drive by a diaphragm. Disk-shaped piezo ceramic elements mounted onto a metal disk provide compact and precise drive motion.

Adapted for Precision & Force

The properties of the pump media, such as viscosity and drop size, determine the required force and therefore the size and type of piezo actuator. In micropumps, piezo displacement controls the dosing volume while frequency controls flow rate.

Feature Article: Piezo motors & actuators streamline medical device performance

Piezo = Nano Precision = Exotic?

Piezoelectric actuators provide more than precision. Their dynamics and force are important where nanometer precision is not required, including fast switching, vibration cancellation and tool adjustment.

PiezoMove OEM actuators combine guided motion and travel ranges up to 1 mm, with optional position sensors for precision in the 10 nm range. They are compact, easy to integrate, maintenance-free and designed for long service life.

Feature Article: Piezo motors & actuators streamline medical device performance

Electrophysiological studies require fast motion of a double-bore pipette across cell membranes. Piezos are ideal for fast switching because they provide electromagnetic quietness, good repeatability, high reliability and fast speeds.

Fast acceleration can excite vibration in the pipette, but properly engineered piezo flexure systems can reduce unwanted solution switching artifacts.

Paper: Electrophysiology - Transducers Enable Faster Solution Switching

The continuing miniaturization in medical engineering places increasing demands on components. Piezo drives efficiently generate fast, precise motion while requiring very little space.

Efficient Aerosol Generation with Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Transducers

Respiratory treatments often administer medications through atomizers. Ultrasonic piezo transducers can generate very fine droplets by exciting a stainless steel diaphragm with thousands of small holes at more than 100 kHz, producing homogeneous aerosols for targeted dosing.

Piezo ceramics meet medical hygiene requirements and can be sterilized at high temperatures. Ultrasonic operation is silent for humans, and low power consumption allows battery operation.

Piezoelectric Drives in Microfluidics

Piezo-driven microdispensers, micropumps and microvalves can dose minute volumes down to the microliter range with high accuracy.

Read: Ultrasonic Metering in Intensive Care Devices

Piezo ultrasonic motors are compact, fast and advantageous when stages must be small and fast. They can achieve positioning accuracies up to 0.1 µm and speeds up to several hundred mm/s.

These motors are also suited to applications with less demanding accuracy requirements, such as industrial automation and handling tasks in the 5 to 100 micrometer range. More informatoin on piezo motors