Optimizing Mechanical Damping Factor and Improvement of the Positioning Control Performance Using Viscous-Elastic Guide.

A new guide mechanism called ' Viscous-Elastic Guide' is introduced in this paper. The viscous-elastic guide consists of flexure hinges and a squeeze damper, so the damping factor of the positioning mechanism using the introduced mechanism is adjustable. Single-axis positioning mechanism with the viscous-elastic guide, driven by a ball screw, has been constructed as experimental system, and its damping factor is optimized. Positioning experiments indicate that mechanical damping factor optimization improves the positioning control performance. The improved performance for a 20mm step input are as follows. (1) The average positioning time is 362ms. (2) The positioning accuracy is within 10nm.