JPH11126111A - Device for moving - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact device capable of exactly moving an object to be moved and highly accurately positioning it without generating a circular arc error. SOLUTION: This device is provided with turning arms 14 arranged symmetric to the center line Y of an object to be moved 12 while being freely turnably supported within the same plane as the object 12, actuators 16 for turning these turning arms 14, and motion transmitting mechanism for converting the turning motion of the turning arms 14 to linear motion, transmitting it to the object to be moved and straightly moving this object in a fixed direction. The motion transmitting mechanism is provided at the turning top end part of the turning arms 14 and equipped with motion transmitting members 22 of rigid bodies arranged symmetric to the center line within the same plane as the object on both the sides of the object, and 1st and 2nd hinge parts 24 and 26 for respectively linking these motion transmitting members 22 between the object 12 and the turning arms 14 and converting the turning motion of the turning arms 14 to the linear motion.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving device for use in, for example, a scanning probe microscope and a scanning mechanism using the same, for accurately moving a moving object in a predetermined direction and positioning the moving object with high accuracy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a moving device of this type, for example, a "large stroke STM" described on pages 146 to 151 of "Journal of the Japan Society of Precision Engineering 55/1/1989" is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, an actuator 8 (for example, a piezoelectric element) for applying a predetermined pressing force to a moving object 6 (in the figure, an aluminum alloy arm) connected to the fixed base 4 via the hinge portion 2. Body) and this actuator 8
And a steel ball 10 for transmitting the pressing force of the actuator 8 to the moving object 6. By transmitting the pressing force of the actuator 8 to the moving object 6 via the steel ball 10, The moving object 6 is turned around the hinge 2 to be displaced by a predetermined amount.

[0003]

However, in the conventional moving apparatus, if the turning amount (magnification ratio) of the turning end 6a of the moving object 6 is increased, the length of the moving object 6 must be increased. Therefore, the size of the apparatus is increased, and it is difficult to obtain the displacement of the turning end 6a in proportion to the displacement of the actuator 8. That is, if the length of the moving object 6 is increased,
Since the turning end 6a changes its angle in an arc in proportion thereto, the displacement of the moving object 6 is shifted by the change in the angle of the arc of the turning end 6a (this is hereinafter referred to as an arc error). ).

In addition, when a conventional moving device is incorporated into, for example, a microscope device and used to move a microscope stage to be moved, the following problems occur. That is, it is preferable that the thickness of the microscope stage be small in order to operate smoothly. However, since the conventional moving device is configured to be able to move the moving object only in one direction, it is necessary to move the microscope stage in a direction orthogonal to the sample mounting surface. When the moving device is mounted on the microscope stage, the thickness of the entire stage is increased by the height of the moving device. For example, when driving the stage in the X, Y and Z axis directions, it is necessary to stack three moving devices for each direction in the height direction.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to accurately move a moving object and accurately position the object without causing an arc error. An object of the present invention is to provide a compact moving device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a moving device according to the present invention is arranged symmetrically with respect to a center line of a moving object and rotates in the same plane as the moving object. A rotating arm that is freely supported, an actuator that is arranged in the same plane as the moving object so as to rotate the rotating arm, and an actuator that is arranged in the same plane as the moving object. A motion transmission mechanism that converts the rotational motion of the arm into a linear motion and transmits the linear motion to the moving object, and linearly moves the moving object in a fixed direction. It is provided at the rotating tip,
A movement transmitting member symmetrically arranged with respect to a center line of the moving object, and connecting the movement transmitting member between the moving object and the rotating arm, and rotating the rotating arm. Hinge means capable of converting motion into linear motion.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a moving device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the mobile device of the present embodiment
A rotating arm 14 symmetrically arranged with respect to the center line Y of the moving object 12 and rotatably supported in the same plane as the moving object 12; An actuator 16 arranged in the same plane as the moving object 12 and an actuator 16 arranged in the same plane as the moving object 12 convert the turning motion of the turning arm 14 into a linear motion and And a motion transmitting mechanism for transmitting the moving object 12 linearly in a certain direction.

The moving object 12 is incorporated in, for example, a microscope stage (not shown), and
The configuration is such that the microscope stage moves with the movement of 2. Each of the rotating arms 14 extends in parallel along the center line Y of the moving object 12, and its base end is integrally connected to a fixed base 20 via a fulcrum hinge 18. As a result, it is possible to rotate around the fulcrum hinge 18. The fixed base 20 extends symmetrically with respect to the center line Y of the moving object 12.

The motion transmission mechanism is provided at the rotation tip of the rotation arm 14 and is a rigid motion transmission member 22 symmetrically disposed on both sides of the moving object 12 with respect to the center line Y.
And the motion transmitting members 22 are connected between the moving object 12 and the rotating arm 14, respectively.
And hinge means capable of converting the rotational movement of the fourth member into a linear movement.

The hinge means is provided at the center line Y of the moving object 12.
And a first hinge 24 connecting the tip end of the rotating arm 14 to the motion transmitting member 22, and a first hinge 24 connecting the motion transmitting member 22 to the moving object 12. The moving direction and the moving amount of the moving object 12 can be arbitrarily changed by selectively changing the arrangement of the first and second hinge portions 24 and 26. .

The moving object 12, the rotating arm 14, and the motion transmitting mechanism are integrally formed of the same material. Therefore, in the moving device of the present embodiment, the moving accuracy of the moving object 12 is determined by the processing accuracy.

[0012] This advantage is that since the conventional moving devices are assembled after being processed separately, it is difficult to compensate for the moving accuracy of the moving object. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, only the processing accuracy is required. In this case, the compensation of the movement accuracy is easier than that of the conventional device.

The same can be said for all the embodiments described in detail below. In the present embodiment, as an example, the moving object 12 is moved along the center line Y by an arrow D
It is assumed that the object is moved linearly in the direction. in this case,
What is necessary is just to arrange | position the 1st hinge part 24 in the arrow D direction downstream, and to arrange | position the 2nd hinge part 26 in the arrow D direction upstream from the 1st hinge part 24.

An actuator (for example, a piezoelectric body)
16 are fixed bases 20 symmetrically with respect to the center line Y of the moving object 12 and along an axis X orthogonal to the center line Y.
The pivot arm 14 is disposed between the pivot arm 14 and the pivot arm 14. By pressing the side surface of the pivot arm 14, the pivot arm 14 can be pivoted about the fulcrum hinge 18. .

In this case, the amount of displacement of the actuator 16 is X1, the amount of pivotal displacement of the tip of the pivot arm 14 is X2, the distance between the actuator 16 and the fulcrum hinge 18 is h1, and the amount of fulcrum is h1. Hinge 18 and pivot arm 1
Assuming that the distance between the rotating tip 4 (the first hinge portion 24) and the rotating tip 4 is h2, the following relationship is satisfied: X2 = (h2 / h1) .X1. “H2 / h1” is an enlargement ratio based on the principle of leverage.

Therefore, by selectively changing the arrangement of the actuator 16, it is possible to variously change the amount of rotation of the rotation arm 14. For example, when it is desired to increase the rotation displacement X2 of the rotation tip of the rotation arm 14, the actuator 16 may be brought closer to the fulcrum hinge 18. This is because, by disposing the actuator 16 close to the fulcrum hinge portion 18, the amount of pivotal displacement of the pivotal tip of the pivotable arm 14 is enlarged based on the principle of leverage, and is larger than the displacement of the actuator 16. This is because, as a result, the amount of linear movement of the moving object 12 can be increased.

When a pressing force is directly applied to the side surface of the rotating arm 14 by the actuator 16, local stress concentration occurs on the side surface of the rotating arm 14 to which the pressing force has been applied. The side surface may be locally deformed. If such a deformation occurs, it becomes impossible to accurately control the rotation of the rotation arm 14 thereafter.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, in order to avoid such a situation, a material harder than the pivoting arm 14 (for example, a burning material) is provided at a position close to the fulcrum hinge 18 of the pivoting arm 14. Pins 28)
And a pressing member 30 formed of a material (for example, a quenched material) harder than the rotating arm 14 is attached to the displacement end of the actuator 16, and the actuator 16 is inserted through the pressing member 30 and the pin 28. Is applied to the rotating arm 14.

According to such a configuration, when the pressing force of the actuator 16 is applied to the pin 28, the pressing force applied to the pin 28 is transmitted to the rotating arm 14 in a form dispersed around the pin 28. . Therefore, local stress concentration does not occur on the side surface of the rotating arm 14. In the drawings, each of the pins 28 has a circular cross section, but any shape (for example, an elliptical shape or a semicircular shape) is applied as long as local stress concentration can be prevented. It is possible.

A plunger 32 symmetrically arranged with respect to the center line Y of the moving object 12 is screwed into an extending end extending from the base end of the rotating arm 14. The rotation arm 14 is positioned by pressing the plunger 32 against the fixed base 20.

In this embodiment, in the initial state where the actuator 16 is not driven (that is, the actuator 16 is not driven).
(In the initial state, in which the pressing force does not act on the rotating arm 14)
In, the pressing force of the plunger 32 against the fixed base 20 is adjusted so that the moving object 12 and the motion transmitting member 22 are positioned on the same reference plane H (see FIG. 1B). As a result, in the initial state, the rotating arm 14 is elastically held at a fixed position (hereinafter, referred to as an initial position).

In such a configuration, for example, when each of the actuators 16 is driven to be displaced (for example, extended), the extended motion is transmitted to the rotating arm 14 via the pin 28.

At this time, the pressing force of the actuator 16 acting on the pin 28 is transmitted to the rotating arm 14 in a form distributed around the pin 28, and the rotating arm 14 is moved outwardly about the fulcrum hinge portion 18. It acts as a force to turn in S (the direction in which the turning end portions of the turning arm 14 move away from each other) (see FIG. 1B). As a result, the rotating arm 14 is rotationally displaced at its rotational tip by a greater amount than the displacement of the actuator 16.

When the tip of the turning arm 14 is turned in the outward direction S, the force in the outward direction S is transmitted to the motion transmitting member 22 through the first hinge 24. Each of the motion transmitting members 22 is evenly lifted from the same reference plane H in the direction of arrow D while rotating about its one end 22a (see FIG. 1C). As a result, the moving object 12 supported between the motion transmitting members 22 via the second hinge portion 26 moves linearly in the direction of arrow D.

Here, regarding such a principle of the motion transmitting operation, it is assumed that when the first hinge portion 24 is displaced in the outward direction S by δx, the moving object 12 is linearly moved in the direction of arrow D by δy. This will be specifically described.

As shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), the first hinge portion 24 and the second hinge portion 26 are arranged at a position separated by a distance L at an arrangement angle θ. If the first hinge portion 24 is displaced by δx, the second hinge portion 26 is displaced by δy. At this time, the first
Assuming that a change in the arrangement angle θ between the hinge portion 24 and the second hinge portion 26 is α, the following relationship is satisfied: δy = {1 / tan (θ−α)} δx. Note that “1 / tan (θ−α)”
Is an enlargement factor based on the principle of motion transmission operation.

In this case, as can be seen from the relationship between the arrangement angle θ and the magnification shown in FIG. 3, when the moving object 12 is moved largely, the displacement of the actuator 16 is small. It needs to be large. But,
In a place where the magnification is large, that is, in a range where the arrangement angle θ is small,
A slight change in the arrangement angle α greatly changes the enlargement ratio and extremely changes the linearity. Further, the magnitude of the force for displacing the first hinge portion 24 by δx (that is, the force acting on the tip of the pivot arm 14 in the outward direction S) also changes extremely. For this reason, a large burden is imposed on the rotation control of the rotation arm 14.

In order to achieve excellent linearity and reduce the burden of the rotation control, the arrangement angle change α must be reduced, or
Although it is necessary to increase the arrangement angle θ (that is, to reduce the magnification), in order to obtain a large displacement output with excellent linearity while maintaining the overall size of the mobile device, the magnification must be kept low. Must.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the first and second hinge portions 24 are arranged so that the arrangement angle θ is large (ie, the enlargement ratio is small). Note that the arrangement angle θ is preferably about 10 ° (magnification: 5).

Therefore, the enlargement ratio of the entire mobile device of the present embodiment is a value obtained by multiplying the enlargement ratio based on both the lever principle and the motion transmission operation principle, that is, (h2 / h1) ｛1 / tan ( θ-α)｝.

As a result, the extension displacement of the actuator 16 is enlarged and transmitted to the moving object 12 according to a value multiplied by an enlargement factor based on both the principle of leverage and the principle of motion transmission operation.

When the actuator 16 is displaced in a reduced manner, the rotating arm 14 is rotated in the direction of the initial position by the elastic force acting on the rotating arm 14. At this time, the moving object 12 is moved together with the motion transmitting member 22 by the rotating arm 14.
With the rotation of, it moves linearly in the direction of the same reference plane H (see FIG. 1B).

Accordingly, the object to be moved 12 can be accurately and linearly moved by a necessary distance by simply moving the actuator 16 by a desired amount, without causing an arc error as in the prior art, and positioning with high accuracy. Can be.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the moving object 1 is maintained at a large magnification while maintaining the miniaturization of the moving device.
2 can be moved linearly and precisely and accurately.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and can be variously changed in accordance with a purpose of use, a use environment, and the like. For example, when the installation range of the moving device is limited and it is necessary to reduce the width of the device, as shown in FIG. If the actuators 16 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center line Y of the moving object 12 and in parallel along the center line Y so as to bend and press the base end portion bent in the L-shape. good.

Also, for example, a direction T orthogonal to the center line Y
When the moving object 12 is linearly moved in a direction perpendicular to the same plane including the moving object 12, the rotating arm 14 and the motion transmitting mechanism, as shown in FIG. Assuming that the unit 12 and the motion transmitting mechanism are one unit, the unit may be positioned between the rotating arms 14 in a state where the unit is rotated by 90 °.

However, in this case, on both sides of the unit,
A hinge part 34 is provided symmetrically with respect to the center line Y of the moving object 12 and serves as a configuration of the motion transmission mechanism.
It is necessary to connect the above-mentioned unit to the rotation tip of the rotation arm 14 through the fourth arm 4.

Further, the hinge portion 34 applied to this modification example
Represents the displacement amount of the actuator 16 as X1 and the rotation arm 1
X2 is the amount of rotation displacement of the tip of the rotation of the actuator 4;
The distance between the fulcrum hinge portion 18 and the fulcrum hinge portion 18 is h1, the pivotal tip of the fulcrum hinge portion 18 and the pivot arm 14 (the hinge portion 3).
4), it is preferable that the distance h2 = (X2 / X1) · h1.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the width of the apparatus and the object to be moved 1 are determined in accordance with the purpose of use and the environment of use.
2 can be set arbitrarily. For example, even when the microscope stage is moved in a direction perpendicular to the sample mounting surface (tentatively referred to as a Z direction), if the moving object 12 of the moving device shown in FIG. 5 is assembled to the microscope stage, The microscope stage is largely moved in the Z direction by moving only the moving object 12 linearly and accurately in the direction T (Z direction) perpendicular to the center line Y without increasing the thickness of the entire stage. It can be positioned with high precision by moving it in parallel.

Further, for example, in the moving device shown in FIG. 4, when the moving object 12 and the motion transmitting mechanism are considered as one unit, the unit is rotated by 90 ° between the rotating arms 14. In addition to the position of the moving device shown in FIG. 5, the hinge unit 34 which constitutes a motion transmitting mechanism is provided symmetrically with respect to the center line Y of the moving object 12 on both sides of the unit, similarly to the moving device shown in FIG. The moving object 12 can be moved linearly and accurately in the Z direction while reducing the width dimension. Further, the hinge portion 34 can cancel the tilting operation due to the rotation of the rotation arm 14 (referred to by those skilled in the art as “escape”).

[0041]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a compact moving device capable of accurately moving a moving object and positioning with high accuracy without causing an arc error.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a moving device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a positional relationship between a moving object and a motion transmitting mechanism in an initial state, and FIG. )
The figure which shows the positional relationship of a moving object and a motion transmission mechanism when rotating a rotation arm.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing a change state of an arrangement angle of first and second hinge portions of a motion transmission mechanism when a rotating arm is rotated, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between an arrangement angle and an enlargement ratio based on the principle of motion transmission operation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a moving device according to a modification of the present invention.

5A and 5B are diagrams showing a configuration of a moving device according to another modification of the present invention, wherein FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the moving device, and FIG.
Is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional mobile device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Moving object 14 Rotating arm 16 Actuator 22 Motion transmission member 24 1st hinge part 26 2nd hinge part

Claims (3)

[Claims] A rotating arm disposed symmetrically with respect to a center line of the moving object and rotatably supported in the same plane as the moving object; An actuator arranged in the same plane as the moving object; and an actuator arranged in the same plane as the moving object, and converting a turning motion of the turning arm into a linear motion to the moving object. And a motion transmitting mechanism for transmitting the moving object linearly in a certain direction. The motion transmitting mechanism is provided at a turning tip of the turning arm, and is provided at a center of the moving object. A motion transmitting member symmetrically arranged with respect to a line, and connecting the motion transmitting member between the moving object and the rotating arm, and converting a rotating motion of the rotating arm into a linear motion; With possible hinge means. A mobile device characterized by the above. 2. The hinge means is symmetrically arranged with respect to a center line of the moving object, and is a first hinge unit for connecting a rotation tip of the rotation arm and the motion transmitting member. The moving device according to claim 1, further comprising: a second hinge unit that connects the motion transmitting member and the moving object. 3. The moving device according to claim 1, wherein the moving object, the rotating arm, and the motion transmitting mechanism are integrally formed of the same material.