The high-speed, direct-drive rotation stages from PI (Physik Instrumente) LP have been fitted with brushless, frictionless, and closed-loop torque motors. The availability of such fast rotary tables offers the ideal combination of high velocity, high precision, and utmost service life.
PI offers closed-loop direct-drive rotary tables with mechanical and air bearings. The stage model comes with a low profile and large apertures. The stage design has been improved for high stiffness, speed, and load capacity.
Air-bearing rotation tables are recommended if maintenance-free and friction-free motion with an unlimited lifetime is needed. Such ultra-precision, high-speed rotary tables offer vibration-free motion with extremely high precision and negligible runout, wobble, and eccentricity errors.
The deficiency of lubricants makes these clean rooms consistent and ideal for any high-performance metrology application in photonics, optics, and semiconductor manufacturing, test, and metrology-related projects.
Advantages of Motorized Direct-Drive Rotation Stages: Speed, Precision, Reliability
In opposition to belt-drive rotation stages or worm gear-driven rotary stages, the quick, direct-drive stages remove play in gears, couplings, or flex in drive belts, offering accurate rotary motion with zero backlash and outstanding constancy of velocity while obtaining higher speed compared to worm-gear drives.
Applications for Direct-Drive, High-Speed Rotation Stages
High-speed rotary tables are utilized in high-performance factory automation, semiconductor, and laser processing applications and research. As a result of the use of brushless, high-torque motors with instant metrology position feedback, a backlash is entirely removed, and reliability has been greatly enhanced.
The Difference Between a Rotary Table and Rotary Stage
Generally, there is no variance. With the availability of greater models, a table is utilized more often, while smaller-size models are often referred to as stages.
What Angular Positioning Resolution can be Achieved?
With the availability of modern direct-metrology rotary encoders, sensor resolution down to 1/100th of a microrad is available on chosen models with large rotary table platforms. This utilizes the high interpolation factors of modern closed-loop brushless motors like what is offered by the PI’s EtherCat-based controllers.
Depending on the high encoder resolution and robust servo controllers, the direct-drive rotary tables also offer outstanding velocity control. This is needed in automation applications like high-speed laser processing, indexing, and semiconductor wafer inspection.
The majority of the Direct Drive Rotation stages could be mounted vertically and horizontally, with combinations of all 3 rotary degrees of freedom (3DOF, yaw, pitch, and roll) being addressed.
Compact Precision Direct-Drive Rotation Stages with Brushless Torque Motors and Mechanical Bearings
V-610 High Precision Rotation Stage
Direct Drive and Direct Encoder
- Availability of 27 µrad min. inc. motion
- Comes with a 25 mm aperture, 100 mm turn table
- Max. velocity is around 540°/sec
- The load can be taken up to 2 kg
- An optional brake is offered
- Torque motor, sine/cosine encoder
Image Credit: PI (Physik Instrumente) LP
V-611 High Precision Rotation Stage
Direct Drive, Absolute Encoder Option
- Aperture is around 35 mm, 100 mm turn table
- 1 µrad min. inc. motion
- Torque motor
- Maximum velocity is 2880°/seconds
- Sine/cosine or absolute encoder
- The load is 10 kg
Image Credit: PI (Physik Instrumente) LP
V-62× Ultra-High Precision Rotation Stages
Direct Drive, Absolute Encoder Option
- Comes with an 85/110 mm turn table
- Max resolution is 0.0015 µrad
- A torque motor is available
- Sine/cosine or absolute encoder
- The load is 15 kg
- Max. velocity is 7200°/seconds
Image Credit: PI (Physik Instrumente) LP
Ultra-High Performance Direct-Drive Air Bearing Rotary Tables with Brushless Torque Motors
A-621-A-627 Air Bearing Rotary Stages
Direct Drive, High Load
- The table diameter is given to be 2/4/6/8/12″
- Load is 13 to 420 kg
- Max. resolution is 0.008 µrad
- RPM max is 500 to 2500
- Flatness is 40 to 100 nm
Image Credit: PI (Physik Instrumente) LP
A-634–A-638 Air Bearing Rotary Stages
Low Profile, Large Diameter
- Table diameter is 6/8/14″
- The load capacity is 20/32/60/120 kg
- Self-locking option at rest
- Max. resolution is 0.03 µrad
- Eccentricity and flatness <100 nm
- 500 RPM max.
Image Credit: PI (Physik Instrumente) LP
A-688 Air Bearing Rotary Stage
Large Clear Aperture
- Clear aperture is ⌀260 mm
- Load capacity is 77 kg
- Max. resolution is 0.0015 µrad
- Direct drive
- 500 RPM max.
- Wobble: <1 µrad
- Flatness/Eccentricity <175/300 nm
Image Credit: PI (Physik Instrumente) LP