Upside-down joystick aids radiation research
An
Advanced Design Consulting product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Sep 13, 2002
Engineers from Advanced Design Consulting have taken the joystick for the sake of science and turned it upside-down.
In the realm of specialised physics research, where precision is measured in nanometers, engineers from Advanced Design Consulting have taken the joystick for the sake of science and turned it upside-down.
The result is a super-accurate goniometer.
Physical scientists, working on synchrotron radiation research, often need to study crystals, zone plates and small mirrors.
To analyse them, crystals must be aligned with very high precision and scanned over tiny angular ranges.
For example analysing X-ray optics, the scientists need micro or nano accuracy.
Goniometers position the crystals or other elements and this goniometer achieves that precision - at the nano level - with an inverted joystick design.
Various engineering designs have been used to solve this positioning problem, relying on machined circles, arcs, arc-segments or cradles.
"The inverted joystick design is a simple, low-cost and robust solution to positioning", says Alex Deyhim, president of Advanced Design Consulting.
As some aspects of the goniometer are unique, the idea is patent pending.
"This design is capable of achieving highly accurate resolution, repeatability, orthogonality of motion and stability for a wide-range of loads", he says.
In addition to Deyhim, the other Advanced Design Consulting engineers developing the goniometer include Basil Blank, Thomas Kupp and Eric Johnson.
Scientists Chi-Chang Kao and Wolfgang Caliebe, of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Gary Navrotski, of the University of Chicago, tested the instrument's accuracy.
The research was supported by the US Department of Energy's divisions of Materials Science and Chemical Sciences.
Simply, the device is a high-stiffness, inverted joystick mounted on three spherical bearings and a motor puts it into precise motion.
"The system is easily scalable with simple changes in the geometry of the mounting stage and the joystick length", says Deyhim.
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