Air Bearing Stages
In applications requiring extreme accuracy and stability, air bearings provide
significant advantages over other types of guidance. Typically running against a
lapped granite bearing surface, they provide a superbly smooth and effectively
friction-free solution. When combined with linear motors and optical encoders, the
result is a precise, reliable stage with high stiffness and zero maintenance.
Q-Sys engineers have a great deal of
experience of incorporating air
bearings into single and multi-axis
systems for individual requirements,
with both the lift and guidance
bearing surfaces in carefully designed
granite structures. Repeatable
precision is achieved by maintaining a
constant air gap of just a few microns,
using one of a number of pre-loading
techniques depending on the specifics
of the application.
Metrology
Inspection
Supreme precision
High reliability
Heavy payloads
Custom configurations
www.q-sys.eu
Examples
Q-Sys BV Grasbeemd 15b
5705 DE Helmond
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)492 714434
Fax: +31 (0)492 714435
Email: [email protected]
Q-Sys UK Wakeswood Lodge
St Mary Bourne
Andover SP11 6EW
England
Tel: +44 (0)1264 848245
Mob: +44 (0)7810 124425
Email : [email protected]
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Unusually, this gantry beam assembly uses an extruded aluminium beam as the main support. The inkjet printing application required very low downtime combined with a demanding duty cycle so the reliability and maintenance free nature of air bearings was ideal.
This metrology bench uses vacuum pre-loaded bearings to maintain a constant air gap and to avoid introducing any local stress in the granite bearing surface.
This large format split axes platform uses a combination of granite base and granite slides with air bearings for both lift and guidance. The resulting system has superb stability and is used in a laser ablation tool for gen 6 display panel masters.