J Control Autom Electr Syst DOI 10.1007/s40313-013-0099-x Residual jerk reduction in precision positioning stages using sliding microstep-based switching Soumen Mandal · Shishir Kumar Singh · Sangeeta Mandal · Anirudh Kumar · Nagahanumaiah Received: 5 June 2013 / Revised: 18 September 2013 / Accepted: 13 December 2013 © Brazilian Society for Automatics–SBA 2013 Abstract Micro precision X–Y stages have several appli- cations in industry ranging from metal machining to position- ing of optical instruments. This paper deals with the evalu- ation of relationship between jerk in micro precision stages and harmonics in voltage of the motor by which the stage is driven and subsequently proposes an algorithm on Arduino Mega micro controller board to reduce the jerk by shaping the velocity profile while varying the microstepping rate in motor voltage. A micro precision stage with a resolution of 1 micron, driven with a bipolar stepper motor drive is used to evaluate the algorithm. A MEMS accelerometer (ADXL 345) is placed rigidly on the stage, and the acceleration at varying speeds is measured and logged in the micro controller. The micro controller sends commands to the motor driver (L6470 driver) for driving the motor using Serial Peripheral inter- face. The motor driver is configured in microstepping mode. Experiments confirm the fact that there is a strong correla- tion between jerk in micropositioning stage and motor supply voltage harmonics. A methodology to reduce the jerk has also been facilitated. This involves use of microstepping mode in stepper motor driver with dynamic sliding in microstepping rate. A threshold value of jerk is considered and based on that, the microstepping rate is varied which subsequently reduces voltage harmonics. Reduction in voltage harmonics reduces the jerk in the stage. Maximum jerk reduction of 97.3 % was achieved in the process. S. Mandal (B ) · S. K. Singh · A. Kumar · Nagahanumaiah Micro systems Technology Laboratory, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur 713209, India e-mail: somandal88@cmeri.res.in S. Mandal Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, India Keywords Residual jerk · Accelerometer · Precision stage · Successive approximation · Microstepping 1 Introduction Micropositioning stages are widely used in electromechani- cal systems to place or move objects of varying payloads for operations ranging from machining, assembly, instrument calibration, etc. Micropositioning X–Y stages possess dis- placement resolution in microns and are driven by electric motors. Usually, a rotating electric motor (stepper, servos, etc) is used combined with mechanism (micrometer screw or lead screw) to convert the rotation into translation for travel ranges up to resolution of 1 μm. For higher travel resolu- tions linear motors, piezo actuators, etc combined with travel mechanisms such as flexure and compliant mechanisms are commercially available. Micropositioning X–Y stages possess residual jerk dur- ing operation (Hamilton et al. 1999) in addition to the jerk induced due to operational causes viz. change in driving force, change in mass of payload, etc. Limiting the resid- ual jerk is important to suppress the transient vibration and reduce the settling time (Li et al. 2009a,b). Transient vibra- tions result in inaccuracies in positioning. Residual jerk refers to the jerk under zero payload and occurs due to change in acceleration of the motion profile. Residual jerk and vibra- tion arise due contribution of number of factors like change in acceleration of moving trajectory, inertial effects of moving stage, difference in sliding friction of bearing attached to the stage, etc (Li et al. 2009a,b; Rizvi 2005; Ryuichi 2011). A lot of research can be found in literature to eliminate the vibra- tion and jerk in precision stages due to operational causes. A plethora of controller-based techniques ranging from sim- ple PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) control (Wang et 123 Author's copy. For personal and educational use only. Not for commercial distribution.