Design of a magnetic gravity compensation system

An extremely accurate positioning over relatively long ranges is accomplished by absorbing or suppressing vibrations. Highly accurate frames or stages should be supported against gravity. In addition, the external disturbance forces acting on these stages need to be cancelled in a feedback control loop. In this paper a new, low-cost, vacuum compatible gravity compensation system is presented, which eliminates vibrations and which is able to generate forces to counteract the disturbing ones as well.