Rigid XYθTable for ultraprecision machine tool driven by means of walking drive

摘要

The present paper presents a new method to feed an XYO table for ultraprecision machine tools by utilizing piezoelectric actuators, which is based on principle of "Walking Drive". The table is supported and driven by six pairs of the feed andsupport actuators. The device does not require any conventional guide methods, and the rigidity is high especially in the feed direction. A control algorithm is also proposed in the present research so that the feed velocity and direction can becontrolled in real time. The simple control algorithm automatically generates the complicated voltage patterns to be applied to the actuators to generate any given motion. The present feed method for the XYθ table is expected to have various advantagesfor ultraprecision machine tools such as high positioning resolution, high rigidity, smooth motion and long stroke.