JPH0646246B2 - Fine movement mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a fine movement mechanism using optical fiber alignment or the like.

[Conventional technology]

An example of a conventional device of this type is shown in FIG. This device comprises a lower table 1, an intermediate table 2 and an upper table 3. In the figure, the three parts are drawn separately for the sake of clarity. The lower table 1 has V-shaped grooves 5 and 6 for guiding the steel balls 4, and the back surface of the intermediate table 2 has V-shaped grooves 7 and 8 at positions facing the V-shaped grooves 5 and 6. In addition, V-shaped grooves 9 and 10 for guiding the steel balls 4 are also provided on the surface thereof.
However, on the back surface of the upper table 3, V-shaped grooves 11 and 12 are provided at positions facing the V-shaped grooves 9 and 10, respectively. Therefore, the intermediate table 2 can be smoothly moved in the Y direction with respect to the lower table 1, and the upper table 3 can be smoothly moved in the X direction with respect to the intermediate table 2.

On the other hand, the actuator fixing base 13 is attached to the lower table 1.
However, the intermediate table 2 has actuator holders 14 and 1 mounted on it.
5, an actuator fixing base 16 is provided on the upper table 3, and a Y axis linear actuator 17 is provided between the actuator fixing bases 13 and 14, and an X axis is provided between the actuator fixing bases 15 and 16. The linear actuators 18 are fixed.

Therefore, by expanding and contracting the X-axis linear actuator 18 and the Y-axis linear actuator 17, the upper table 3 can be arbitrarily moved with respect to the lower table 1 in the X-axis and Y-axis directions.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional XY moving mechanism thus configured, the Y-axis linear actuator 17 moves the upper table 3 via the intermediate table 2, so that the inertial load becomes large and the high-speed start-stop operation becomes difficult. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to obtain a fine movement mechanism having a small inertial load and capable of high-speed operation.

[Means for solving problems]

The fine movement mechanism according to the present invention supports the moving bases at right angles to each other with two pairs of parallel leaf springs on the same plane, and displaces a pair of parallel leaf springs at right angles to the movement direction to move the movement directions. It is equipped with actuators that move in two axial directions via a pair of parallel leaf springs.

[Action]

According to the present invention, when the actuator that coincides with the moving direction of the moving table is driven, the pair of parallel leaf springs in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction is displaced, and the other pair of parallel leaf springs is driven without displacement. The force is transmitted to the mobile base and the mobile base is moved in the desired direction.

〔Example〕

2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining the principle of the present invention.

In these figures, 21 and 22 are parallel leaf springs,
It is fixed to the spring supports 23, 24 by means such as adhesion. In this structure, when a force F is applied to the spring support body 24 in a direction substantially parallel to the spring support body 23, the parallel leaf springs 21 and 22 are deformed as shown by the dotted lines, and the spring support body 24 is moved relative to the spring support body 23. Translate by δ. This utilizes the property that the parallel leaf springs 21 and 22 are easily bent, but they are difficult to expand and contract, and even if they have an integral structure as shown in FIG. .

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which the movable table 31 is 2
It is supported by a pair of parallel leaf springs 32, 33 and 34, 35. The other ends of the parallel leaf springs 32, 33 are connected to a Y-axis actuator 38 via a support 36, and the parallel leaf springs 34,
The other end of 35 is connected to the X-axis actuator 3 via the support 37.
9 is connected.

The support 36 is supported by the parallel leaf springs 32 and 33 and the parallel leaf springs 40 and 41 in the direction orthogonal to the parallel leaf springs 32 and 33, and the support body 37 includes the parallel leaf springs 34 and 35 and the parallel leaf springs 42 and 43 in the direction orthogonal thereto. Supported by. Parallel leaf springs 40, 4
1 and the other ends of the parallel leaf springs 42 and 43, and the other ends of the Y-axis actuator 38 and the X-axis actuator 39 are all connected to the substrate 44.

Now, in such a structure, the Y-axis actuator 3
Considering the case where 8 extends, the movable table 31 and the support 36 are supported by the parallel leaf springs 34, 35 and 40, 41, respectively, and therefore move in parallel to the Y-axis direction. On the other hand, since the parallel leaf springs 32 and 33 have high rigidity in the Y-axis direction, they move as a unit. Similarly, the movable table 31 moves integrally with the X-axis actuator 39 as the X-axis actuator 39 expands and contracts.

That is, the movable table 31 has the Y-axis actuator 3 respectively.
8. It follows that the X-axis actuator 39 faithfully follows the movement of the X-axis actuator 39 and is not interfered with each other's movement.

As described above, the movable table 31 has the X-axis and Y-axis actuators 3
Since it can be freely moved in the X-axis and Y-axis directions by 9, 38, for example, the hand 45 is fixed to the moving base 31, the optical fiber cable 46 is held by the hand 45, and the optical fiber supported by the fixed base 47 is supported. By facing the cable 48, the optical fiber cables 46 and 48 can be accurately aligned.

Here, the X-axis and Y-axis actuators 39, 38 used
May be a linear actuator that is displaced in the axial direction, and is not limited to one that uses an electrostrictive element or one that uses a magnetostrictive element, and may be an electrodynamic linear actuator.

Also, the parallel leaf springs 32 to 35, 40 to 43 used here
However, it is needless to say that the parallel leaf springs may be combined with an adhesive or the like as described in the principle of FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the fine movement mechanism of the present invention supports the moving bases at right angles to each other and supports the pair of parallel leaf springs on the same plane, and displaces the pair of parallel leaf springs at right angles to the moving direction. Since the actuators that move in the two axial directions are provided via the pair of parallel leaf springs that are parallel to the moving direction, the inertial load acting on the actuator can be reduced, and there is an advantage that high speed operation is possible. Further, since the parallel leaf springs are all supported, there are no sliding points, so that there is an advantage that inertial frictional force does not act and fine positioning is possible. Further, since the two pairs of parallel leaf springs are on the same plane, there is an advantage that not only accurate positioning in the two axial directions is possible, but also the whole is easy to be integrated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are views showing the principle of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conventional fine movement mechanism. In the figure, 31 is a movable table, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40,
41, 42 and 43 are parallel leaf springs, 36 and 37 are supports,
38 is a Y-axis actuator, 39 is an X-axis actuator, 44 is a substrate, 45 is a hand, 46 and 48 are optical fiber cables, and 47 is a fixed base.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pair of parallel leaf springs which are perpendicular to each other and are supported by two parallel leaf springs on the same plane, and a pair of parallel leaf springs perpendicular to the movement direction are displaced to form a pair of parallel leaf springs. A fine movement mechanism comprising an actuator for moving in two axial directions via parallel leaf springs.