An electrostatic suspension system using piezoelectric actuators

We present a novel electrostatic suspension system that is cost-effective and has good suspension performance. The main feature of the system is that movable electrodes are employed to implement a stable suspension instead of the stationary electrodes employed in previous suspension systems. In this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Smart materials and structures 2012-02, Vol.21 (2), p.25012-1-8
Main Authors: Le, T T, Jeon, J U, Woo, S J, Higuchi, T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Contact
Electric potential
Electrodes
Electrostatics
Exact sciences and technology
General equipment and techniques
Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy
Movements
Physics
Piezoelectric actuators
Suspension systems
Transducers
Voltage
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Summary:We present a novel electrostatic suspension system that is cost-effective and has good suspension performance. The main feature of the system is that movable electrodes are employed to implement a stable suspension instead of the stationary electrodes employed in previous suspension systems. In this system, the movable electrodes are powered by constant voltage, and their movements are controlled by piezoelectric actuators with rapid deformation characteristics, which allow the electrostatic forces exerted on a suspended object to be controlled by variation of the gap length between the suspended object and the movable electrodes. We describe the structure, operational principle, dynamic model, and a stabilization method of the suspension system, followed by an experimental setup. Experimental results demonstrate the complete suspension of a 4 in silicon wafer without any mechanical contact.
ISSN:0964-1726
1361-665X
DOI:10.1088/0964-1726/21/2/025012