A Compliant Mechanism for Aerostatic Thrust Bearings Controlled by Piezo-actuators

Because of their remarkable performance, the use of compliant mechanisms has also been extended to the field of aerostatic bearings. This paper presents the design, modelling and experimental validation of a compliant mechanism used for a piezoelectric tool actuator to actively control an aerostatic thrust bearing. The proposed design procedure consists in a topological analysis of the mechanism, so as to define the kinematic functionality of the mechanism, a quasi-static analysis to tune its functional stiffness, and a modal analysis of the mechanism to identify its mode shapes. Experimental validation tests were performed to verify both the features of the compliant mechanism and the functionality of the system.