This article presents the design and implementation of a micropositioning system actuated by three piezoelectric stacks to control its displacements on XYZ axes. The use of conventional piezoelectric buzzers allows us to reduce fabrication costs. The working or mobile platform is the base for objects that will be manipulated, for example, in automated assembling. The micropositioner can be integrated into a microgripper to generate a complete manipulation system. For micropositioner fabrication, at first, Polylactic Acid (PLA) was chosen as the structural material, but after simulation and some experimental tests performed with a micropositioner made of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), it showed larger displacement (approx. 20%) due to its lower stiffness. A third test was performed with a positioner made with Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG), obtaining an intermediate performance. The originality of this work resides in the geometrical arrangement based on thermoplastic polymer compliance mechanisms, as well as in the use of additive manufacturing to fabricate it. An experimental setup was developed to carry out experimental tests. ANSYS™ was used for simulation.

Microgrippers are devices that have found applications in various fields of research and industry. They are driven by various actuation methods. In this article, an electrothermal rotary actuator recently proposed in the literature is explored to obtain a novel microgripper design (Model 1). In addition, the use of the rotary actuator as part of the chevron actuated microgrippers (Model 2) is also discussed. The theoretical analysis of the rotary actuator is supported by an equivalent U-shaped-like microactuator. The small error values validate the approximation used. Numerical modeling is performed with ANSYS^TM (Student version 2022, ANSYS, PA, USA). A comparison of theoretical and numerical results provides acceptable error values. The total inter-jaw displacement values obtained for models 1 and 2 are 12.28 μm and 21.2 μm, respectively, and the reaction force is 8.96 μN and 34.2 μN, respectively. The performance parameters of both microgrippers could make their use feasible for different nanoapplications. Model 2 can be used when higher force and displacement are required.

Based on a V-shaped microactuator with a pair of beams, modifications were made to the length and width of a microactuator to observe the effects. A theoretical approach and numerical characterization of the modified microactuator were performed. Its performance was compared to a similar microactuator with equal beam widths, and a V-shaped microactuator. The proposed microactuator, fed at 2 V, compared to the V-shaped actuator, showed a 370.48% increase in force, but a 29.8% decrease in displacement. The equivalent von Mises stress level increased (until 74.2 MPa), but was below the silicon ultimate stress. When the modified microactuator was applied to the proposed microgripper, compared to the case using a V-shaped actuator, the displacement between the jaws increased from 0.85 µm to 4.85 µm, the force from 42.11 mN to 73.61 mN, and the natural frequency from 11.36 kHz to 37.99 kHz; although the temperature increased, on average, from 42 °C up to 73 °C, it is not a critical value for many microobjects. The maximum equivalent von Mises stress was equal to 68.65 MPa. Therefore, it has been demonstrated that the new modified microactuator with damping elements is useful for the proposed microgripper of novel geometry, while a reduced area is maintained.

In this paper, a modified U-shaped micro-actuator with a compliant mechanism is proposed. It was analyzed with a uniform and modified thin arm, as well as a similar variation in the corresponding flexure, in order to observe the impact of the compliant lumped mechanism. The use of these compliant mechanisms implies an increment in the deformation and a reduction in the equivalent stress of 25% and 52.25%, respectively. This characterization was developed using the Finite Element Method (FEM) in ANSYS Workbench. The design, analysis and simulation were developed with Polysilicon. In this study, the following performance parameters were also analyzed: force and temperature distribution. This device is supplied with voltage from 0 V up to 3 V, at room temperature. The modified U-shaped actuator was applied in both arms of a microgripper, and to evaluate its electrothermal performance, a static structural analysis has been carried out in Ansys Workbench. The microgripper has an increment in deformation of 22.33%, an equivalent stress reduction of 50%, and a decrease in operation frequency of 10.8%. The force between its jaws is of 367 µN. This low level of force could be useful when sensitive particles are manipulated.

The design and fabrication of an individual patch antenna were realized in order to obtain an efficient and economical antenna replacement to routers, which operate at 2.4 GHz. This rectangular microstrip antenna was corner truncated rectangular due to its bigger gain compared with the rectangular one, because of losses reduction. With this antenna the indoor communication was possible, but it was not enough to supply the outdoor one. In order to provide also the outdoor service, antenna arrays were developed, on the base of the corner truncated rectangular antenna, considering traditional configurations such as, a driven patch antenna gap coupled to four patches along the edges as a first approximation. As second one, a driven patch antenna directly coupled to four patches along the edges was analyzed, and finally, a driven patch antenna was coupled considering both types of coupling. The last case constitutes a novel structure, which showed the biggest gain, but, experimentally, also showed a little displacement of the central frequency. The indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi communication was possible with the last two arrays. Their main limitations are their sizes, but they have competitive costs.

La comunicación inalámbrica, mejor conocida como Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), adquiere interés ya que no requiere del uso de cables, los cuales son engorrosos y limitan el espacio libre. Este tipo de comunicación es ampliamente utilizado en equipos electrónicos, principalmente en el hogar y la industria. Las antenas de parche, que usan algunos de estos equipos, son muy populares debido a sus características. El objetivo de este trabajo es obtener un prototipo de antena de parche eficiente y económico para su uso en interiores y exteriores. En principio, se presenta el prototipo de una antena de parche rectangular diseñada para Wi-Fi con polarización lineal. Después, se realizan sobre ella cortes y ranuras, para mejorar su ganancia. Las pruebas realizadas con la antena individual con cuatro cortes muestra la factibilidad de su uso para interiores. Posteriormente, se diseña un arreglo de antenas de parche en base a la antena individual de cuatro cortes, con la finalidad de obtener un prototipo mejorado. Las pruebas demuestran un buen desempeño del arreglo de antenas propuesto, para su uso en interiores y exteriores, como se esperaba.