A novel precision positioning table utilizing impact force of spring-mounted piezoelectric actuator - part I: experimental design and results

This paper proposes a novel high-precision and large-stroke positioning table utilizing the spring-mounted piezoelectric actuator. An experimental setup with the actuation along one direction in the horizontal plane was configured to elucidate the characteristics of the positioning table. Several parameters, e.g. the waveform and the amplitude of applied voltage, the mass ratio, and the stiffness of spring, which affect the motion behavior of the table were examined and discussed. The experimental results show that the proposed actuator can actuate a heavy table by utilizing the impact force of a piezoelectric element while maintaining the comparatively long operational range of the initially compressed spring. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.