Simulation and research on the automatic leveling of a precision stage

In precision and ultraprecision machining processes, the precision stage will deform under the weight of a large workpiece, and this deformation will significantly affect the machining accuracy of the workpiece, so leveling the precision stage is essential in order to reduce this effect and improve the machining accuracy. For the commonly used precision stage that has six supporting points, there will be different deformation types of the stage when the workpiece is located at different positions of the stage. Simulation and analysis of the deformation types would be helpful in order to level the stage correctly. Using the finite element software ANSYS, this study simulated and analyzed the deformation types of the stage when the workpiece is located at different positions. According to the simulation results, the stage was divided into eight areas, an automatic judgement method was designed to judge the exact area where the workpiece is located, and leveling methods of this judged area were proposed. The experimental results show that the deformation types of the stage are well consistent with the simulation analysis, and the workpiece’s location judged by the proposed method is the same as the real location.

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► The deformation of a precision stage that has six supporting points was simulated.
► The stage’s deformation types were obtained when the workpiece was located at different positions.
► A leveling method was developed to level the local area where the workpiece is located.
► A method was designed to judge workpiece’s location by inclination angle.
► Experiments agreed well with simulation analysis and the leveling method is useful.