JPH02130514A - Micromanipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To drive the micromanipulator accurately and smoothly through easy operation by composing a fine adjusting device of a base member, a moving member, and a displacement member consisting of a lamination type piezoelectric element, and holding an operating element on the moving member of this fine adjusting device and controlling the fine moving operation of the operating element electrically. CONSTITUTION:The lamination type piezoelectric element is used as the displacement member 4 and the displacement member 4 composed of the lamination type piezoelectric element is interposed between the base member 2 and the moving member 3 coupled with this base member 2 through an elastic hinge 6 through the elastic hinge 5 to constitute the fine adjusting device. When the displacement member 4 is displaced P by being applied with a DC voltage, the moving member 3 which holds the operating element 9 rotates and moves by a fine angle in plane about the elastic hinge 6 as a fulcrum and the tip of the operating element 9 is also displaced Q correspondingly. Consequently, the operating element is moved smoothly with high accuracy by the extremely simple mechanism. Further, the micromanipulator is constituted very compactly.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a micromanipulator used to minutely displace a fine needle or the like when observing microorganisms, cells, etc. under a microscope.

[Conventional technology]

In the field of biology, which studies the functions of living organisms, one of the most important research methods is to directly perform experimental manipulations on cells, which are the basic units that make up living organisms. Living cells usually have a size of several microns to several tens of microns, making it impossible to perform experiments with the naked eye. Therefore, it is often operated under a microscope, and a micromanipulator that can be used in the hand to operate accurately within the field of view is essential. That is, a micromanipulator functions as a hand that performs operations such as extraction, separation, stimulation, tension, and compression on living cells and organs, and typically uses a needle-like operator. Conventional micromanipulators employ rack-and-pinion gear mechanisms, screw mechanisms, or hydraulic mechanisms as microscopic drive mechanisms on the order of microns for operating elements, and all positioning and driving are performed manually.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, such conventional micromanipulators are complicated to operate and have problems with positioning accuracy. Therefore, a micromanipulator using a pulse motor as a driving source has been considered, but it is still difficult to obtain satisfactory results in terms of positioning accuracy, reproducibility, responsiveness, or smoothness of movement. An object of the present invention is to provide a micromanipulator that can be driven accurately and smoothly with simple operation by electrically controlling minute movements of an operator.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the micromanipulator of the present invention includes a base member, a movable member coupled to the base member via an elastic hinge, and a movable member coupled to the base member via an elastic hinge. A fine movement device is constituted by the inserted displacement member made of a laminated piezoelectric element, and the operating member is held by the moving member of this fine movement device. Further, the micromanipulator of the present invention includes a base member, a movable member coupled to the base member via an elastic hinge, and a laminated piezoelectric element inserted between the movable member and the base member via the elastic hinge. Two sets of fine movement members are provided, and with these fine movement devices rotated 90 degrees with respect to each other on the same axis, the base member of the other fine movement device is attached to the moving member of one of the fine movement devices. The two movable members are connected in series, and the other movable member holds the operator. Furthermore, in the micromanipulator of the present invention, a displacement member made of a laminated piezoelectric element that is displaced in the axial direction of the operator is inserted between the operator and the moving member.

[For use]

A laminated piezoelectric element is made by alternately laminating piezoelectric material layers made of piezoelectric ceramics, etc. and electrode layers. When a DC voltage is applied between the electrode layers, each piezoelectric material layer expands due to the piezoelectric longitudinal effect, and the sum of the piezoelectric material layers is a laminated piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element extends vertically. This displacement can be controlled on the submicron order by controlling the applied voltage. Therefore, the present invention uses this laminated piezoelectric element as a displacement member, and connects the displacement member made of the laminated piezoelectric element between a base member and a movable member connected to the base member via an elastic hinge. This device is inserted into a fine movement device. When a direct current voltage is applied to the displacement member to cause the displacement member to be displaced, the movable member holding the operator rotates within a plane by a small angle using the elastic hinge as a fulcrum, and the tip of the operator is also displaced accordingly. Further, two sets of fine movement devices are coaxially rotated 90 degrees with respect to each other, and connected in series by coupling the base member of the other fine movement device to the moving member of one of the fine movement devices, and the other fine movement device is connected in series. By holding the operating element in the movable member of the fine movement device, the tip of the operating element can be displaced within a two-dimensional plane. Furthermore, by inserting a displacement member between this operator and the movable member, the tip of the operator can be
It can be displaced in dimensional space.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a side view showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a fine movement device of a micromanipulator. In this fine movement device 1, 2 is a base member that also serves as a frame with a rectangular cross section and an L-shaped side profile as shown, 3 is a rectangular parallelepiped moving member, 4 is a displacement member made of a laminated piezoelectric element, and 5 is a displacement member. It is a holding member with a rectangular cross section for holding the member 4. The base member 2 and the movable member 3 are coupled by an elastic hinge 6, and the holding member 5 is coupled to the base member 2 and the movable member 3 via elastic hinges 7, respectively. These base member 2, moving member 3, holding member 5, elastic hinge 6.7
is made of metal such as stainless steel or phosphor bronze, and is integrally formed by cutting. The displacement member 4 has a cross section of 4×5
The body is a laminated piezoelectric element having a length of 20 pieces (for example, NPA series manufactured by NEC Corporation), and is held between holding members 5 by adhesive. A holder 8 is welded to the movable member 3, and an operator 9 is attached to the holder 8. As the operator 9, a minute glass needle is used in the illustrated embodiment. A lead wire 10 is attached to the displacement member 4,
This lead wire 10 is connected to a DC power source 11. In such a configuration, when a voltage is applied to the displacement member 4 from the DC power source 11, the displacement member 4 extends in the direction of the arrow P in the figure by an amount corresponding to the voltage, and the movable member 3 uses the elastic hinge 6 as a fulcrum to rotate the clock in the figure. A minute rotational displacement in the direction. As a result, the tip of the operator 9 held by the movable member 3 is displaced in the direction of arrow Q in the figure. In the illustrated embodiment, the voltage is 0 to 1
When the voltage was varied within a range of 50 V, the displacement member 4 was displaced by a maximum of 15 μm, the movable member 3 was rotationally displaced by about 0.05 degrees, and the tip of the operator 9 was displaced by about 75 μm. The resolution of the displacement member 4 was approximately 0.1 μm. FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention, and FIG.
2 is a partially sectional side view, and FIG. 2(B) is a plan view thereof. In the second embodiment, two sets of fine movement devices l in the first embodiment are provided. Each fine movement device 1 has the same structure, but the ones shown in Fig. 2 are A and B, respectively.
shall be distinguished by adding a subscript. Now, in FIG. 2, the fine movement devices IA and IB are rotated 90 degrees to each other on the same axis, that is, on a common line passing through the axes of the two base members and 2B, and the movement member 3A of the fine movement device IA is The base members 2B of the fine movement device IB are coupled and connected in series. In the illustrated embodiment, the entire fine movement devices IA and IB are integrally formed by cutting stainless steel, and therefore, the moving member 3A and the base member 2B are integrally formed. An operator 9 is held on the moving member 3B of the fine movement device IB, and a displacement member 12 is inserted between the operator 9 and the moving member 3B. Specifically, the moving member 3
A displacement member 12 and a holder 14 whose brim-shaped base end 14 a is in contact with the displacement member 12 are slidably housed in a rod-shaped base member 13 made of metal such as stainless steel and welded to B. An operator 9 made of a microneedle is attached to the holder. Base member 13 and holder 14
The holder 14 is disposed between the displacing member 12 and the base end 14a of the holder 14.
A compression spring 15 is inserted which constantly presses the . The displacement member 12 has a cross section of 2×2ffII11 and a length of 10++.
+m laminated piezoelectric element (for example, manufactured by NEC Corporation, NPA
series) are used. The displacement members 4A, 4B, and 12 are all connected to a DC power source (not shown), and a voltage is applied to each of them independently. In such a configuration, when a voltage is applied to the displacement member 4A, the movable member 3A moves to the second position using the elastic hinge 6A as a fulcrum.
Rotationally displaced in the counterclockwise direction in Figure (A), the operator 9 is
Displaced in the direction. Further, when a voltage is applied to the displacement member 4B, the displacement member 3B is rotationally displaced clockwise in FIG. 2(B) using the elastic hinge 6B as a fulcrum, and the operator 9 is displaced in the X direction in the figure. Furthermore, when a voltage is applied to the displacement member 12, the displacement member 12 is displaced in the direction of arrow R in FIG. 2(A) against the spring force of the compression spring 15, and the operator 9 is displaced in the two directions shown in the figure. . In this way, in the second embodiment, each displacement member 4A
, 4B, and 12, the operator 9 can be displaced in three-dimensional space. If only two-dimensional displacement is required, the operator 9 may be directly attached to the moving member 3B. In the case of the illustrated embodiment, when the voltage was varied within the range of 0 to 150 cm, the tip of the operator 9 was displaced by approximately 100 μm S in each of the x and y directions and approximately 10 am in the z direction. The resolution at this time was approximately 0.1 μm. Note that the coarse movement mechanism of the micromanipulator is not included in the description of the above embodiments because a conventional device can be used.

【Effect of the invention】

According to this invention, the operator can be moved with high precision and smoothly using a very simple mechanism, and the entire micromanipulator can be configured very compactly. Furthermore, since the amount of displacement can be changed by voltage control, operation is simple, and automation and labor saving are also easy.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the first embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 (A
) is a partially sectional side view of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(B) is a plan view thereof. 1, IA, IB...fine movement device, 2.2A, 2B...
Base member, 3.3A, 3B... Moving member, 4.4A
, 4B...displacement member, 6.6A, 6B, 7.7A. 7B... Elastic hinge, 9... Operator, 11... DC power supply, 12... Displacement member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A base member, a movable member coupled to the base member via an elastic hinge, and a laminated piezoelectric element inserted between the movable member and the base member via an elastic hinge. 1. A micromanipulator comprising: a fine movement device configured by a displacement member; and an operator is held by the moving member of the fine movement device. 2) Consisting of a base member, a movable member coupled to this base member via an elastic hinge, and a displacement member consisting of a laminated piezoelectric element inserted between this movable member and the base member via an elastic hinge. Two sets of fine movement members are provided,
These fine movement devices are connected in series by coupling the base member of the other fine movement device to the moving member of one of the fine movement devices in a state where they are rotated 90 degrees with respect to each other on the same axis, and the movement member of the other fine movement device is connected in series. A micromanipulator characterized by holding an operator. 3) The micromanipulator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a displacement member made of a laminated piezoelectric element that is displaced in the axial direction of the operator is inserted between the operator and the moving member. micromanipulator.