Precision position control using combined piezo-VCM actuators

This paper presents the control performance of a high-precision positioning table using the hybrid actuators composed of the piezoelectric (PZT) actuators and voice-coil motors (VCMs). The combined piezo-VCM actuator features two main characteristics, i.e., a large operation range due to the long stroke of VCM, and a high precision and heavy load positioning ability due to the actuation of PZT impact force. In this paper, a one-degree-of-freedom (1-DOF) experimental setup was configured to examine the control performance and the parametric identification for the VCM was performed based on the recursive-least-square (RLS) method. The control performance was effectively demonstrated by using a switching controller configured by an integral variable structure controller (IVSC) for the VCM to conduct rough position control and an impact force controller (IFC) for the PZT actuator to conduct fine position control. The experimental results showed that the positioning table having mass 881 g was successfully positioned within the positioning accuracy of 10 nm by both the forward and backward positioning processes. In the forward control, it totally took 1.253 s for the sliding table to reach the target position of 450 μm; in the backward control, it took 1.387 s for the sliding table moving from the position of 450 μm to the target position of 200 μm.