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US 10,763,733 B2Granted
Methods and systems for controllably moving one or more moveable stages in a displacement device
AssigneeThe University of British Columbia
InventorXiaodong Lu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aspects of the invention provide methods and systems for moving moveable stages relative to a stator. A stator is operationally divided into multiple stator tiles. The movement of the one or more moveable stages is controlled by a plurality of controllers (each assigned particular control responsibilities). A controller is provided for each stator sector, where each stator sector comprises a group of one or more stator tiles. Controllers from neighboring sectors share various information to facilitate controllable movement of one or more moveable stages relative to the stator.
Claims22
A system for controllably moving one or more moveable stages relative to a stator, the system comprising:
- one or more moveable stages, each of the one or more moveable stages comprising one or more magnetization elements, each magnetization element having a corresponding magnetization direction and the one or more moveable stages comprising a first moveable stage;
- a stator comprising a plurality of sectors, each sector comprising a plurality of coil traces, the plurality of sectors further comprising a first sector comprising a first plurality of coil traces and a second sector comprising a second plurality of coil traces;
- a first controller and one or more first amplifiers associated with the first sector, the first controller and the one or more first amplifiers connected to controllably drive first currents in one or more first coil trace groups from among the first plurality of coil traces;
- a second controller and one or more second amplifiers associated with the second sector, the second controller and the one or more second amplifiers connected to controllably drive second currents in one or more second coil trace groups from among the second plurality of coil traces;
- the first and second controllers in bi-directional communication with one another via a sector link between the first and second controllers;
- wherein the first controller is configured to determine a particular second current reference command for a particular second coil trace group from among one or more second coil trace groups and to communicate the particular second current reference command to the second controller via the sector link between the first and second controllers;
- and
- wherein the second controller is configured to determine a particular second final current reference for the particular second coil trace group based at least in part on the particular second current reference command, and the second controller and the one or more second amplifiers are connected to drive current into the particular second coil trace group and to cause the current in the particular second coil trace group to track the particular second final current reference and to thereby cause interaction with the one or more magnetization elements of the first moveable stage which causes corresponding movement of the first moveable stage relative to the stator.
5 more elements
A system for controllably moving one or more moveable stages relative to a stator, the system comprising:
- one or more moveable stages, each of the one or more moveable stages comprising one or more magnetization elements, each magnetization element having a corresponding magnetization direction and the one or more moveable stages comprising a first moveable stage;
- a stator comprising a plurality of sectors, each sector comprising a plurality of coil traces, the plurality of sectors further comprising a first sector comprising a first plurality of coil traces and a second sector comprising a second plurality of coil traces;
- a first controller and one or more first amplifiers associated with the first sector, the first controller and one or more first amplifiers connected to controllably drive first currents in one or more first coil trace groups from among the first plurality of coil traces;
- a second controller and one or more second amplifiers associated with the second sector, the second controller and one or more second amplifiers connected to controllably drive second currents in one or more second coil trace groups from among the second plurality of coil traces;
- the first and second controllers in bi-directional communication with one another via a sector link between the first and second controllers;
- wherein the system further comprises a plurality of position sensors for generating position sensor outputs related to a position of the first moveable stage, the second controller connected to receive the position sensor outputs from the plurality of position sensors and to generate position sensor output information based on the position sensor outputs;
- and wherein:
- the second controller is configured to communicate at least a portion of the position sensor output information to the first controller via the sector link between the first and second controllers;
- and
- the first controller is configured to determine an estimate of the position of the first moveable stage in at least two linear degrees of freedom based at least in part on the portion of the position sensor output information.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.