{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T09:49:40Z","timestamp":1773827380975,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,28]],"date-time":"2022-12-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1672185600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Science and Technology of the R.O.C. (Taiwan)","award":["MOST 107-2218-E-007-006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MOST 107-2218-E-007-006"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Existing displacement sensors of micrometers to sub-micron precision are expensive and have various limitations. This paper reports the design and development of a new contact type compact micro-displacement sensor of sub-micron precision for a fraction of the cost of commercial devices. The basic concept of the new sensor system applies a mechanical magnifying mechanism to magnify a displacement at sub-micron to micron level and uses a low-cost Hall sensor to measure the magnified displacement. Various conceptual designs for the mechanical magnifying mechanism based on cascaded levers with flexural joints were studied and a final design, featuring side-by-side placement of lever structures in a multi-planar layout with adjacent levers coupled by L-shaped coupling foils, was devised. Prototypes of two different sizes and constructions with mechanical magnification ratios over 100 were made and tested. Measurement repeatability and accuracy to sub-micrometer level and a resolution down to hundredths of a micrometer were demonstrated by a compact Alpha Model prototype. Design modification of parts and a corresponding small lot size production procedure were devised to provide an estimated bill of material cost per unit under US$100.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23010326","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,29]],"date-time":"2022-12-29T02:54:42Z","timestamp":1672282482000},"page":"326","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Precision Low-Cost Compact Micro-Displacement Sensors Based on a New Arrangement of Cascaded Levers with Flexural Joints"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Che-Chih","family":"Tsao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Yi-Chun","family":"Tseng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Yu-Sheng","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Wei-Hsuan","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Li-Ting","family":"Huo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Micro Epsilon (2021, October 15). capaDTCT 6110 Datasheet. 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(202210474163.8), CN Patent."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/1\/326\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:54:09Z","timestamp":1760147649000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/1\/326"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,28]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1]]}},"alternative-id":["s23010326"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s23010326","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,28]]}}}