Actuators with high linear-motion speed, high positioning resolution and a long motion stroke are needed in many precision machining systems. In some current systems, voice coil motors (VCMs) are implemented for servo control. While the voice coil motors may provide the long motion stroke needed in many applications, the main obstacle that hinders the improvement of the machining accuracy and efficiency is their limited bandwidth. To fundamentally solve this issue, we propose to develop a dual-stage actuation system that consists of a voice coil motor that covers the coarse motion, and a piezoelectric stack actuator that induces the fine motion, thus enhancing the positioning accuracy. The focus of this present research is the mechatronics design and synthesis of the new actuation system. In particular, a flexure hinge based mechanism is developed to provide a motion guide and preload to the piezoelectric stack actuator that is serially connected to the voice coil motor. This mechanism is built upon parallel plane flexure hinges. A series of numerical and experimental studies are carried out to facilitate the system design and the model identification. The effectiveness of the proposed system is demonstrated through open-loop studies and preliminary closed-loop control practice. While the primary goal of this particular design is aimed at enhancing optical lens machining, the concept and approach outlined are generic and can be extended to a variety of applications.

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An adaptive nonlinear control law that incorporates the manipulator dynamics as well as dynamics of the actuator is developed in this article. The proposed adaptive robust tracking controller requires position measurements only. The controller consists of two parts: a linear observer that generates an estimated error from the error on the joint position, together with a linear feedback controller that utilizes the estimated states. The second part is an adaptive controller that utilizes the feedback states from the linear observer to generate a control effort that takes into consideration the dynamic parameters variation of the robot and actuator. The closed loop system is locally stable in the Lyapunov sense. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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