Apparatus for providing a controlled deflection and/or actuator apparatus
AssigneesOmnitek Research & Development, Inc., Polytechnic University
InventorsJahangir Rastegar, Farshad Khorrami
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Abstract
Apparatus for compensating for positioning, pointing and/or orientation errors caused by deflections of structural members and components of a high performance machine or device and/or for reducing vibration inputs to such machine or device and/or for micro-positioning such machine or device so as to improve the operational performance of such machine or device. The apparatus utilizes one or more active-type actuators, such as piezoelectric ceramic type actuators, which are arranged in a predetermined manner relative to the machine or device. A servo control device operating in accordance with a predetermined algorithm may be utilized for controlling the actuators or, alternatively, the apparatus may operate in an open loop manner.
Claims6
An apparatus attachable to a deflectable member for providing a controlled deflection of said deflectable member by deforming said deflectable member, said apparatus comprising:
- two support blocks;
- and
- an actuator/flexure element assembly arranged between the support blocks and having at least one actuator and at least one flexure element, in which said at least one actuator includes a movable portion and in which said at least one flexure element is configured to minimally resist bending of said deflectable member and to distribute a load over a portion of said at least one actuator in a relatively uniform manner;
- wherein said at least one actuator is preloaded to a desired level prior to fixedly coupling said support blocks to said deflectable member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.