Vibration suppression of a state-of-the-art wafer gripper

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the successful implementation of piezoelectric actuators with active damping control to reduce vibrations in a wafer gripper, showcasing a practical approach for industrial thin structure damping.

Contribution

It introduces a combined mechanical and control design for piezoelectric damping in wafer grippers, validated through experimental modal analysis and active damping implementation.

Findings

Achieved at least 5% damping of two eigenmodes.

Validated the placement of piezoelectric patches using modal analysis.

Implemented active damping with positive position feedback successfully.

Abstract

In this paper the implementation of piezoelectrics to a state-of-the-art wafer gripper is investigated. The objective is to propose and validate a solution method, which includes a mechanical design and control system, to achieve at least 5% damping for two eigenmodes of a wafer gripper. This objective serves as a 'proof of concept' to show the possibilities of implementing a state-of-the-art damping method to an industrial application, which in turn can be used to dampen different thin structures. The coupling relation between the piezoelectrics and their host structure were used to design the placement of the piezoelectric patches, together with modal analysis data of the a state-of-the-art wafer gripper. This data had been measured through an experimental setup. Active damping has been succesfully implemented onto the wafer gripper where positive position feedback (PPF) is used as a control algorithm to dampen two eigenmodes.