Microsystems for autonomous limit monitoring can be used for triggering maintenance and thus help to reduce costs. We present a fully integrated passive microsystem for binary counting of off-limit conditions. The mechanical design and a mechanical characterization of the system fabricated using SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology are shown. The binary counting mechanism is realized by utilizing mechanical coupling elements between bit elements. The mechanical energy needed for switching the first bit to the state "high" was found to be 0.1 μJ by moving the entrance 37 μm and applying a force of up to 8.2 mN. 0.36 μJ was determined for switching the bit back to the state "low" by applying a 69 μm distance and a force of up to 10.2 mN. The system needs input energy for counting only, not for storing the counter value.
Expanding the design to up to ten bit elements would offer a passive microsensor able to detect 1023 off-limit conditions. A mechanical binary microcounter is presented that does not require electrical energy supply. It is suitable for counting any physical event that can be converted into an adequate force-travel-characteristic.
In a novel hyperspectral imaging concept based on confocal chromatic microscopy, a pinhole array (matrix of pinholes) has to be scanned across an intermediate image plane to capture the full object plane. In this paper a two-axis stepping microdrive is presented for the pinhole array (6×7.5×0.2 mm3 of glass, weight 20 mg), featuring a 10 μm step size and a 200 μm displacement range in each direction. With the two-axis stepwise actuation of the pinhole array, the imaged area of the object plane is increased from 7% (fixed pinhole array) up to 89% with actuated array. The two-axis positioning is implemented with a three-axis inchworm motion driven by electrostatic forces. A combination of horizontal and vertical electrostatic actuators are arranged to achieve a precise in-plane actuation of the pinhole array. The microdrive is fabricated with established MEMS technologies and features a size about 1 cm2 with 1 mm thickness. The microdrive is capable to position the pinhole array over the displacement range. The array size enables a 1:1 optical imaging on an 8 mm diagonal size CCD. The presented stepping microdrive outperforms existing microsystem solutions with a combination of high payload, large step size, displacement range, and the large optical aperture. Furthermore, the device concept enables the positioning of milligram weights with a highly integrated microsystem.
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