Active damping within high-precision machines

The Drebbel Institute of Mechatronics at the Universitry of Twente is conducting research on active damping of vibrations within high-precision machine frames. Since badly damped vibrations often limit the attainable machine accuracy, this is of great interest for both users and suppliers of high-precision measurement and production machines. The use of structural elements-dubbed Smart Discs-has shown very good results in waffer steppers, for instance. ‘We now have a recipe for active damping as a design principle.’ [www.ce.utwente.nl/smartdisc/]