Development of High-Precision Air Bearing Spindle

摘要

We have developed a high-precision air bearing spindle capable of reducing spindle run-out in the axial direction to a few nanometers. Regarding radial bearings, changing the conventional structure has improved stiffness, and regarding axial bearings, an actuator was added to dampen axial-direction vibrations and decrease axial runout. A spindle incorporating these radial and axial bearings was designed, and characteristics were confirmed by numerical analysis. Furthermore, a prototype was manufactured, and performance was validated through experiments. Performance was shown to be superior to that of the conventional spindle.