Piezo Motor allows lower profile rotation table

Physik Instrumente L.P. (www.physikinstrumente.com) has unveiled a higher-precision variant of its M-660 low profile rotary table.

The new model is powered by piezo motors enabling it to feature a very low profile of just 14 mm (0.6 in). It is designed with a high accuracy direct measuring encoder and offers eight times the position resolution of the current version.

The new M-660 rotary table can also accelerate to velocities of 720 degrees/sec with its directly matched precision optical encoder resolving positions down to four µrad (0.00023°), offering the servo controller backlash-free, phase-lag-free feedback.

The new model’s self-clamping drive delivers very high stability, without any heat generation and energy consumption at rest, making it suitable for various applications, such as semiconductor/ test equipment, Optical Instrumentation and Metrology.

With its light-weight direct-drive ceramic motor functioning without magnets or gears, inertia and mass were significantly reduced as compared to traditional rotation stages. This result to precise bidirectional position and speed control — which is very important for high speed motion contouring — and very fast start/stop behavior, effectively making the M-660 outperform the acceleration, stability and settling speed of conventional servo motor gear-driven and direct drives mechanisms.

The company also offers a special motion controller for the piezo motors to allow customers to take full advantage of ultrasonic ceramic motors’ specific motion characteristics, which includes a solid software and driver package as well as a USB interfacing.