ABL1500-B Air-Bearing Direct-Drive Linear Stage

Description

Design Features

• Integral bellows protect the drive and bearing system from contamination
• Designed for high-performance scanning and inspection
• Air-on-air preload on all air-bearing surfaces
• Linear encoder feedback provides nanometer-level resolution
• High stiffness for heavy loads and excellent geometrical performance
• Travel up to 500 mm

Air-Bearing Design for High Dynamic Performance

The ABL1500-B incorporates an air-on-air preload on both the vertical and horizontal surfaces. The opposing thin-film pressure maintains the bearing nominal gap tolerance. This design, in addition to the large air-bearing surface that distributes the load over a large surface area, results in a stage with outstanding stiffness that is ideal for heavy or offset loading.

Proprietary manufacturing techniques result in a stage with unsurpassed geometrical characteristics. The air bearing has an inherent averaging effect that maximizes performance. The thin film will fill small surface voids and allow for other irregularities. This characteristic yields superior pitch, roll, yaw, straightness and flatness specifications.

Linear Motor Drive

The driving force behind this stage is Aerotech’s BLMC series brushless linear servomotor. Aerotech’s long history and experience as a motor manufacturer is reflected in this design. The BLMC utilizes an ironless forcer, which means there is zero cogging and no attractive forces, resulting in unsurpassed smoothness of motion. Capable of generating high force and velocity, the BLMC represents the ultimate combination of power and performance.

Zero Maintenance

Our totally noncontact air bearing, noncontact linear motor drive, and noncontact feedback device ensure years of maintenance-free operation at the high performance levels that are expected of Aerotech equipment. Because there is no mechanical contact between moving elements, the ABL1500-B experiences no wear or reduction in performance over time. Service life is virtually unlimited and since there is no lubrication – only clean, dry gas – air bearings are ideal for cleanroom and medical applications.

Cable Management

We carefully optimize the cable bend radius to ensure years of trouble-free operation. In the unlikely event of failure, Aerotech's modular design makes cable replacement quick and easy with minimal downtime. We include all customer-required cables, air hoses, etc. in our CMS bundle to facilitate integration into the final system. Both ends are fully connectorized for simple integration into the customer's machine.

Integral Bellows

The ABL1500-B uses an integral bellows system to provide a high level of environmental protection. This system protects the air bearings and drive system from process-generated contamination like abrasive debris. The design also has been optimized to minimize the influence of the bellows on the stage's geometric performance.