XY ball-screw stages offer ‘highest’ planar performance
Aerotech's PlanarSL mechanical bearing, ball-screw-driven XY stages are designed to offer the highest possible planar performance from a cost sensitive, low profile package.
Combining two axes of motion, the PlanarSL suits applications ranging from surface metrology to general high precision automation.
It comes standard with a precision-ground and preloaded ball screw. Unlike competitive designs where the ball screw is positioned on the side or off-centre, the PlanarSL ball screw is engineered to drive directly through the centres of friction and stiffness, resulting in superior geometric performance and accuracy.
High precision linear motion guide bearings provide optimal straightness and flatness with support of the moving carriage over the entire XY travel.
Unlike competitive designs using steel (13ppm/°C) or glass scales with 8ppm/°C thermal expansion coefficients, the PlanarSL is available with low-thermal expansion (3.3ppm/°C) precision glass scales on both axes for high accuracy and repeatable positioning over long periods of time.
The linear encoder, available with amplified sine (1Vpp) or 0.1µm TTL digital outputs, is mounted near the centres of action, again providing an optimised stage design for high accuracy positioning.
The PlanarSL comes with a 24VDC bipolar stepper motor. Aerotech says it can also provide brushless and brush DC motors with high resolution rotary encoders preconfigured for use with Aerotech controls.
