Numerical and experimental analysis for the small vibration of aerostatic guideways

Aerostatic guideways have been used in many fields and are absolutely essential for ultraprecision machining . Recently, with increasing demand for ultraprecision devices, the accuracy of 1nm or less has become necessary. On the other hand, conventional aerostatic guideways are not designed considering the influence of small vibration which occurs by supplying air. This vibration is hampering the improvement in accuracy. In this study, a new design of the outlet of orifice restrictors is proposed from the result of numerical analysis and its effect is examined numerically and experimentally. The mechanism for the occurrence of small vibration is analyzed and the methods to suppress the small vibration are proposed.