A novel electronically-controlled linear escapement mechanism

The linear escapement mechanism presented in this paper has been developed to assist in a task where a large thrust force (>10 N) is required with a high positioning resolution (<;0.5 mm) in a battery-powered device. This paper describes the behaviour of the escapement, the design process, based on the dynamic modelling of the output, and the sizing of the key features with a view towards miniaturisation. A prototype is used to validate the design options.