Design of fully decoupled compliant mechanisms with multiple degrees of freedom using topology optimization

Compliant mechanism-based microdevices with multiple inputs and multiple outputs have a wide range of applications in precision mechanics, e.g., cell manipulation, electronic microscopy and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems). In designing this kind of microdevice, the movement coupling among the microdevices becomes critical because many inputs and outputs are involved. This paper presents a systematic method for designing fully decoupled compliant mechanisms with multiple degrees of freedom by using topology optimization. An optimization formulation is posed by considering both output coupling and input coupling issues to achieve fully decoupled motion. The SIMP (Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization) and MMA (Method of Moving Asymptotes) methods are adopted to identify the optimized material distribution in the design domain. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.