SBIR-STTR Award

Research and development will be carried out to provide prototype, actively controlled gas bearings for precision movement in instruments and machine tools. This will draw upon preliminary work on (1) fabrication, (2) dynamic analysis of the bearing and supported mass, (3) piezoelectric valving and piezoelectric displacement of the bearing surface, and (4) the adaptation of a microprocessor to serve as a controller using position error, and stored information to actuate the piezoelectric devices with millisecond or better response time. The object is a complete functioning bearing system with user-friendly interface to facilitate incorporation in machines by designers not skilled in gas bearing design.The potential commercial application as described by the awardee: A small immediate market exists in research instrumentation, metrology devices, and precision machine tools. A continuing specialized market is expected to develop as designers become aware of the adavntages of controlled bearings.

It has long been perceived that control of the flow to a gas bearing might aid in stiffening or stabilizing it. There is rapidly increasing interest in precision instrumentation and machine tools, and bearings may provide convenient adjustment points in their structures for compensating thermal distortion, effects of load movement, and vibration. This research is designed to exploit the potential for feedback control in the gas supply. The parameters to be examined include: gas bearings as vibration isolators, stabilization of pneumatic hammer, stiffening and stabilization of dynamic systems, and positioning over an absolute frame of reference. The industrial potential for these applications in principally in high precision instruments and machine tools to control static deformation and dynamic force transmission. An actuator invented in the program promises much broader applications. Control of pneumatic hammer offers much broader application in that bearing stiffness and bearing load may be increased beyond the present limits