A new technical paper from PI R&D engineers provides an overview of recent developments in Bi-Phase Inertia Drive (BIX) technology and how different BIX motor architectures can be applied to linear, rotary, micrometer-screw-drives, and tip/tilt nanopositioning systems.
BIX is based on the stick-slip principle used in piezo inertia motors, but unlike most stick-slip drives, it uses two synchronized multilayer piezo actuators.
The actuators (PICMA-type) are driven with mirrored sawtooth signals, with one expanding while the other contracts. Their combined motion reduces the effects of piezo hysteresis and increases acceleration at the friction contact point.
The paper describes several BIX configurations developed for different performance requirements. The one-sided BIX, or Standard BIX, provides relatively simple drive architecture. The two-sided BIX, or Performance BIX, uses two friction contacts and can generate twice the force of the one-sided design, with a corresponding reduction in velocity. The design can also be adapted for operation at cryogenic temperatures.
Another configuration converts the microscopic motion of the piezo actuators into rotation of a screw spindle and then into linear motion, similar to the ones used in the N-470 series of standard PiezoMike actuators and mirror mounts. This BIX micrometer screw drive eliminates the passive guide used in conventional piezoelectric spindle drives, reducing friction losses and increasing available force.
Prototype applications include a Z-tip/tilt stage for mirror alignment and a flexure-guided linear stage for cryogenic environments.
For multi-axis applications, a 2D-BIX design combines four PICMA actuators with a lever structure to produce motion in two directions. The concept has been demonstrated in a mirror tip/tilt stage and can operate in both stepping and analog modes.
Together, these developments demonstrate how the BIX bi-phase drive principle can be adapted to a range of compact nanopositioning architectures. Linear, rotary, screw-drive, and even compact implementations for tip/tilt mirror platforms have already been demonstrated as prototypes or functional models.
» Read the full technical paper
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