Ultraprecision Feed System Based on Walking Drive

Abstract A new ultraprecision feed drive system has been developed based on a driving mechanism named walking drive. The feed system utilizes sets of clamping and feeding units driven by piezoelectric actuators, which are activated repeatedly with certain phase shifts just like the walking motion of animals. The characteristic features of the system are continuous and smooth motion for the whole stroke of the guide, fine resolution down to nm order and high stiffness in the feed direction. The paper presents the mechanism of the feed system developed, the control method of the system and some experimental results.