The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 03, 2007
Filed:
Feb. 24, 2006
Placid M. Ferreira, Champaign, IL (US);
Qing Yao, Pearland, TX (US);
Placid M. Ferreira, Champaign, IL (US);
Qing Yao, Pearland, TX (US);
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL (US);
Abstract
In one embodiment, a flexure stage comprises a base, a stage, a positioning mechanism, and a control device. The base and stage have first and second portions that are spaced apart from each other. The positioning mechanism is coupled between the base and the stage. The positioning mechanism includes an actuator and a flexure structure engaged by the actuator. The flexure structure includes base links coupled to the first base portion, stage links coupled to the first stage portion, and an intermediate link coupled to both the base and stage links. All structures are coupled by flexure hinge connections. The control device generates a control signal to change position of the stage by sending a control signal to the actuator which provides a force to elastically deform the flexure structure and correspondingly move the stage.