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Widely applicable to all systems where speed of operation (motion / positioning / pick and place) is limited by the first undamped natural frequency No mechanical alteration.
About
About Opportunity: The only known method of increasing positioning bandwidth of precision positioning systems such as nanopositioning platforms has been to change the mechanical design that places the dominant first resonant mode at a higher frequency. This method is time-consuming and often impractical due to material property limitations as well as motion range requirements. This new vibration control scheme incorporates a controller-based shift of the resonant mode, thereby furnishing a higher bandwidth capability without any intrusive mechanical modifications required to existing parts. The main attractive qualities of the vibration control scheme are: 1. Substantial increase in the positioning bandwidth (as much as 40% of the original resonant frequency of the system) without the necessity of any mechanical modifications. 2. High gain and phase margins guaranteeing stability. 3. Parametric design and availability of optimization schemes with respect to user-defined performance indices. 4. Easy analogue implementation with tuning capability. The optimization algorithms have been theoretically proved and experimentally validated for this system. An application-specific optimization of controller parameters for best system performance is possible. The team welcomes queries from potential end users interested in testing the system in their applications. Key Benefits: Widely applicable to all systems where speed of operation (motion / positioning / pick and place) is limited by the first undamped natural frequency No mechanical alteration of existing systems required Simple to implement via an inexpensive and tuneable analog circuit Eliminates resonance-induced vibrations Increases bandwidth of existing positioning systems without needing mechanical alterations to the design Applications: Nanopositioners used in Atomic Force Microscopes / Scanning Probe Microscopes etc Robotic manipulators and medical robots Nanomachining and nanolithography equipment 3D printing Hard disk drives IP Status: UK Priority filed, patent pending.