PRO-SV Long-Travel Lift Stages

Description

Design Features

• Supports 60 kg load capacity, with up to 50 mm travel and 20 mm/s maximum speed
• Delivers excellent straightness & angular performance thanks to high-precision crossed-roller bearings
• Achieves 10 nm step size by combining precision-ground ball-screw, slotless torque motor & low-expansion linear encoder
• Provides long service life thanks to high-reliability drive mechanism
• Integrates seamlessly with PRO-SL and PRO-LM linear stages
• Offers ThermoComp® for consistent performance in changing environments 

Key Applications

PRO-SV stages are ideal for height-restricted applications or situations when multiple positioning stages are stacked, including:

• Synchrotron & beamline sample manipulation
• Wafer inspection
• Surface metrology
• Laser microprocessing
• Precision manufacturing

Long Travel in a Low-Profile Package

Unlike other types of vertical motion stages, PRO-SV features a drive mechanism that impinges directly on the moving carriage. This provides an exceptionally long range of vertical travel and maintains the shortest height possible, granting free and clear access to the user’s payload. Minimizing the work-point height is especially important in designing motion systems because it minimizes the Abbe offset, thus contributing to greater overall precision.

Precisely Engineered for Superior Performance

A major problem commonly associated with lift stages is subpar geometric performance (i.e., straightness, pitch, roll, and yaw). PRO-SV provides an innovative solution to this problem. Guided by anti-creep and crossed-roller bearings, the moving carriage is thoroughly supported in all directions, making PRO-SV the most precise commercially-available lift stage on the market. Additionally, a slotless, brushless torque motor is joined directly to a large-diameter, precision-ground ball-screw drive mechanism to position even the heaviest payloads with extremely smooth, cog-free motion. The lack of belts, gears, and flex-couplings contributes to PRO-SV’s high reliability and eliminates sources of error from wind-up and excessive backlash.

Features for Design and Integration Flexibility

PRO-SV is engineered for seamless integration into multi-axis stage platforms, motion systems, and machines. It mounts directly to Aerotech’s renowned PRO-SL and PRO-LM linear translation stages and is available with an optional accessory tabletop, to which a variety of Aerotech rotary stages or other process equipment can be integrated. Directly-coupled rotary encoder feedback is standard, and several optional high-resolution linear encoder additions exist for enhanced precision and high bandwidth when operating with dual-loop feedback. When payload management safety is critical, PRO-SV can be configured with an absolute linear encoder, as well as a holding brake, to provide extra levels of protection against inadvertent damage.

Mitigate Thermal Errors with ThermoComp®

Temperature changes and thermal effects can be the most detrimental sources of error in precision machines, and screw drives are particularly susceptible. To combat this issue, PRO-SV stages are available with Aerotech’s ThermoComp® feature, an integrated temperature compensation solution that delivers accurate and dependable positioning performance in the presence of thermal disturbances. It protects the stage from the effects of variable-temperature environments and friction-induced self-heating, ultimately providing stability to the user’s process, even in extreme industrial environments.