Micro rotary ball bearing with integrated ball cage: Fabrication and characterization

Hergert, R. J.; Ku, I.S.Y.; Reddyhoff, Tom; Holmes, Andrew S.

doi:10.1109/memsys.2010.5442313

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The UV-curable polymer droplet was then dispensed between micromachined outer-race and inner-disk; the polymer formed a ball in buffer liquid. The surface tension and buoyancy enabled the formation of polymer ball in buffer liquid [3]. The volume of polymer was precisely controlled by the commercial dispensing system with a hundred micrometer diameter tip to determine the diameter of ball bearing.…”

Section: Concept and Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The development to encapsulate micro balls by assembly and bonding plural wafers has been presented [1][2][3]. Wear issue is reduced by the good surface roughness of V-groove rail realized using the (111) Si crystal-planes [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, only linear motion device is available for such design. Thus deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is utilized for rotation ball bearing fabrication [2,3]. On the other hand, implementation of micro polymer balls for Si-based slide-table (linear-motion) using polymer dispensing technique was reported [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design and implementation of an on-chip polymer micro ball bearing

Lee

Huang

Hsiao

et al. 2013

The 8th Annual IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems

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This study presents a novel design and fabrication process to realize an on-chip micro ball bearing. The ball bearing consists of a polymer-Si-polymer outer-race (stator), and a suspended polymer-Si-polymer inner-disk (rotor) supported by polymer micro-balls. The outer-race and inner-disk are demolded from silicon mold, which is patterned by wet isotropic etching on double-polished 525 μm-thick silicon wafer. The liquid phase photocurable polymer balls are dispensed by commercial dispenser with a hundred micrometer diameter tip and in-situ self-assembled in buffer liquid. After photocurable polymer solidified by UV-curing, the polymer balls are confined between the outer race and inner disk. Note the ball bearing is fabricated on a single wafer with no assembly required.

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Section: Concept and Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Design and implementation of an on-chip polymer micro ball bearing

Lee

Huang

Hsiao

et al. 2013

The 8th Annual IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems

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“…The aim of this work was to compare several different designs of retainer with a view to identifying the most promising design or designs for further study. Silicon microball bearings with integrated retainers were first reported in [15]. These devices were radial bearings, and the design was such that the retainer was formed from two parts held together by a solder bond in the plane of the bearing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of integrated retainer rings in silicon micro-turbines with thrust style micro-ball bearings

Hergert

Hanrahan

Ghodssi

et al. 2013

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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This work explores the performance of different silicon retainer ring designs when integrated into silicon micro-turbines (SMTs) incorporating thrust style bearings supported on 500 μm diameter steel balls. Experimental performance curves are presented for SMTs with rotor diameters of 5 mm and 10 mm, each with five different retainer designs varying in mechanical rigidity, ball pocket shape and ball complement. It was found that the different retainer designs yielded different performance curves, with the closed pocket designs consistently requiring lower input power for a given rotation speed, and the most rigid retainers giving the best performance overall. Both 5 mm and 10 mm diameter devices have shown repeatable performance at rotation speeds up to and exceeding 20 000 RPM with input power levels below 2 W, and devices were tested for over 2.5 million revolutions without failure. Retainer rings are commonly used in macro-scale bearings to ensure uniform spacing between the rolling elements. The integration of retainers into micro-bearings could lower costs by reducing the number of balls required for stable operation, and also open up the possibility of 'smart' bearings with integrated sensors to monitor the bearing status.

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“…As illustrated above, materials used for such applications are currently usually either silicon or SU8 (an epoxy-based photoresist). Such materials are notable for their poor wear resistance in moving parts, as illustrated by both Waits et al (2007) and Hergert et al (2010) in two independent experiments about wear damages induced in micro-scale ball bearings produced by silicon fabrication techniques.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Creating movable interfaces by micro-powder injection moulding

Attia

Hauata

Walton

et al. 2014

Journal of Materials Processing Technology

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This paper presents a novel in-situ technique to produce articulated components with highprecision, micro-scale movable interfaces by micro-powder injection moulding (μPIM). The presented process route is based on the use of micro-scale sacrificial layer between the movable subcomponents which is eliminated during the debinding step, creating a dimensionally-controlled, micro-scale mobile interface. The fabrication technique combines the advantages of micro-powder overmoulding, catalytic debinding and sintering. The demonstrated example was a finger bone prosthesis joint consisting of two sub-components with an interface between components of 200 μm in size. The geometries of the subcomponents were designed such that they are inseparable throughout the process whilst allowing them to move relative to each other after the debinding stage. The components produced showed the feasibility of the process route to produce readily-assembled meso-, and potentially micro-, scale articulated systems.

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Micro rotary ball bearing with integrated ball cage: Fabrication and characterization

Cited by 9 publications

References 8 publications

Design and implementation of an on-chip polymer micro ball bearing

Design and implementation of an on-chip polymer micro ball bearing

Performance of integrated retainer rings in silicon micro-turbines with thrust style micro-ball bearings

Creating movable interfaces by micro-powder injection moulding

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