The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 26, 1997
Filed:
Apr. 04, 1994
Dale W Schubert, Sudbury, MA (US);
Andrew Michael Beard, Winchester, MA (US);
Steven Frank Shedd, Plympton, MA (US);
Marion Richard Earles, Jr, Marlboro, MA (US);
Andreas H Von Flotow, Hood River, OR (US);
Applied Power, Inc., Brighton, MA (US);
Abstract
An active vibration isolation system (10) includes a plurality of stiff actuators, such as piezoelectric motors (12a-c; 284, 350) which support a small mass (18) inside of a case (300). A passive isolator (20) is interposed between the small mass (18) and the payload mass (M.sub.p). In the instance where the stiff actuators are piezoelectric motors, the sidewalls of the case (300) are used to provide compressive force along the variable length of each of the horizontal piezoelectric motor elements (284, 350) to prevent damage to same. Compensation circuitry (24) is connected between velocity sensors (17) and the stiff actuators to control the variable length thereof in this move-out-of-the-way system (10) and to compensate for resonating modes. Optionally, a payload mass velocity sensor (26) and associated circuitry may be used to provide additional control. Shear decouplers (282a-c; 352, 360) are used in conjunction with the piezoelectric motor elements (12a-c; 284, 350) to minimize the amount of shear force acting on the motor elements.