This research paper presents a unique actuating method for a single-axis precise positioning system using a combination of stepper motor and amplified piezo actuator (APA). The adopted method is to employ combination of two separate stages one above the other to achieve the precise positioning. The bottom stage uses a stepper motor (SM) coupled to a fine lead screw for coarse positioning stage (CPS). The secondary stage (SS) is mounted on top of it. The main contribution is to develop a close looped system using a laser displacement sensor (LDS) and LabVIEW program to precisely position the table with an accuracy of 5 µm. Fundamental experiments were conducted using a National Instruments (NI) LabVIEW (a windows supported graphical programming language) program to establish that the system is capable of displacement over a long operational range and precise positioning at the same time. In addition, the operational parameter which affects the motion characteristics of the system such as applied voltage was demonstrated. Based on the experimental studies the precise positioning ability of the system was also demonstrated. Keywords: Amplified piezo actuator, stepper motor, coarse positioning stage, precise positioning stage, LabVIEWCite this Article Dwibedi Subhasankar, Praveen Kumar H N, Gangadharan KV. Development of a novel hybrid precision positioning table utilizing stepper motor and amplified piezo actuator. Trends in Machine Design. 2015; 2(1): 26–33p.
