AMG Direct-Drive Gimbals

Description

Design Features

• Provides continuous 360° rotation in both azimuth & elevation
• Accommodates payloads up to 600 mm diameter
• Ultra-precise positioning & smooth tracking thanks to high-resolution encoder feedback
• Ironless direct-drive motors provide outstanding velocity stability & long-term reliability
• Customizable design to suit your application, including special payload cells, yokes, travel range, environmental conditions & more

Typical applications include missile seeker test and calibration, LIDAR, electro-optical sensor and FLIR testing, airborne target tracking, optical testing of space-based sensors in a vacuum and angular testing of inertial sensors such as gyros, MEMS, accelerometers and inertial reference units. The AMG gimbal design incorporates recent Aerotech rotary stage design improvements to provide high performance at an affordable price. The finest quality motors, bearings and encoders are integrated into precision-machined housings to ensure peak performance. The AMG position and rate gimbals provide precise angular motion with the high performance customers expect from Aerotech products.

Key Applications

AMG direct-drive gimbals are extremely precise and robust, making them ideal for high-performance pointing, tracking and motion simulation applications, such as:

• Missile seeker testing & calibration
• Electro-optical sensor testing
• Airborne target tracking
• Motion simulation
• Inertial sensor testing, including gyroscopes, accelerometers & other MEMS devices
• Inertial navigation system testing & qualification
• Optical testing of space-based sensors in vacuum
• Pointing of optics, lasers, antennas & more

Accurate 360° Positioning and Rate Generation

Direct-drive brushless torque motors, with rare-earth magnets and high-accuracy angular transducers, are coupled directly to precision shafts for accurate and smooth 360° continuous motion. The absence of gear trains and other drive mechanisms eliminates position error contributions due to mechanical hysteresis and backlash. Directly-coupled high-resolution position transducers ensure highly accurate and repeatable positioning.

A wide-range of performance feedback grades is available. Typical line gimbal resolution ranges from 1.0 to 0.13 µrad with Aerotech controls. The built-in azimuth slip ring provides for continuous rotation with no cable wrap up.

Direct-Drive Motors for Outstanding Control

To maximize positioning and velocity performance, AMG gimbal mounts utilize Aerotech’s high torque S-series brushless, slotless servomotors. These motors have all of the advantages of a brushless direct-drive motor — no brushes to wear, no gear trains to maintain and high acceleration and high speeds. Since it is a slotless, ironless design, there is zero cogging, meaning that there is absolutely no torque ripple. This results in smoother motion throughout travel and more precise positioning. These motors are available in different winding configurations to work with high or low voltage power supplies.

Superior Mechanical Design Features

Large diameter, matched-set ABEC-7 bearings maximize performance with respect to wobble, moment stiffness and rotating friction. The large diameter bearing permits large payload capacity without compromising performance. Casting gimbal yokes provide high stiffness to maintain gimbal accuracy under dynamic conditions. Travel limits, hardstops and brakes are available as standard options.

Mirror and Alternate Payload Accommodation

A variety of mirror cell diameters are available for standard optic applications. We also provide for custom payload attachment solutions to accommodate various device interfaces. Each gimbal mirror cell can be modified or replaced with different shaped cells to accommodate sensors or other odd shaped payloads. We understand customer payloads vary and our engineers have a variety of solutions to implement offset CG payloads.