Methods and systems for controllably moving one or more moveable stages in a displacement device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11196329-B2
Application number	US-202016941475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2020
Priority date	Jul 6, 2015
Publication date	Dec 7, 2021
Grant date	Dec 7, 2021

Abstract

Aspects of the invention provide methods and systems for moving moveable stages relative to a stator. A stator is operationally divided into multiple stator tiles. The movement of the one or more moveable stages is controlled by a plurality of controllers (each assigned particular control responsibilities). A controller is provided for each stator sector, where each stator sector comprises a group of one or more stator tiles. Controllers from neighboring sectors share various information to facilitate controllable movement of one or more moveable stages relative to the stator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controllably moving one or more moveable stages relative to a stator, the system comprising:
one or more moveable stages, each of the one or more moveable stages comprising one or more magnetization elements and the one or more moveable stages comprising a first moveable stage;
a stator comprising a plurality of sectors, each sector comprising a plurality of coil traces, the plurality of sectors further comprising a first sector comprising a first plurality of coil traces and a second sector comprising a second plurality of coil traces;
a first controller and one or more first amplifiers associated with the first sector, the first controller and the one or more first amplifiers connected to controllably drive first currents in one or more first coil trace groups from among the first plurality of coil traces;
a second controller and one or more second amplifiers associated with the second sector, the second controller and the one or more second amplifiers connected to controllably drive second currents in one or more second coil trace groups from among the second plurality of coil traces;
the first and second controllers in bi-directional communication with one another via a sector link between the first and second controllers; wherein:
the first sector comprises one or more first position sensors for sensing a position of the one or more moveable stages;
the first sector comprises one or more first current sensors for sensing current in the first plurality of coil traces;
the second sector comprises one or more second current sensors for sensing current in the second plurality of coil traces;
the first controller is configured to collect first position sensor outputs from the one or more first position sensors and first current sensor outputs from the one or more first current sensors;
the second controller is configured to collect second current sensor outputs from the one or more second current sensors;
the second controller is configured to communicate the second current sensor outputs to the first controller via the sector link between the first and second controllers;
the first controller is configured to determine an electromagnetic coupling-compensated position of the first moveable stage based at least in part on the first position sensor outputs, the first current sensor outputs and the second current sensor outputs.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein if the electromagnetic coupling-compensated position is located in the first sector, the first controller is configured to controllably drive first currents in a particular first coil trace group from among the one or more first coil trace groups based at least in part on the electromagnetic coupling-compensated position to thereby cause interaction with the one or more magnetization elements of the first moveable stage which causes corresponding movement of the first moveable stage relative to the stator.

3. A system according to claim 1 wherein if the electromagnetic coupling-compensated position is located in whole or in part in a notional first extended region associated with the first sector, the second extended region overlapping in a stator-Z direction with the first sector and overlapping in the stator-Z direction with a portion of the second sector, then:
the second controller is configured to determine a particular first current reference command for a particular first coil trace group from among the plurality of first coil traces based at least in part on the electromagnetic coupling-compensated position of the first moveable stage and to communicate the particular first current reference command to the first controller via the sector link between the first and second controllers; and
the first controller is configured to determine a particular first final current reference for the particular first coil trace group based at least in part on the particular first current reference command, and the first controller and the one or more first amplifiers are connected to drive first currents into the particular first coil trace group and to cause the first currents in the particular first coil trace group to track the particular first final current reference to thereby cause interaction with the one or more magnetization elements of the first moveable stage which causes corresponding movement of the first moveable stage relative to the stator.

4. A system according to claim 1 wherein:
the second sector comprises one or more second position sensors for sensing a position of the first moveable stage;
the second controller is configured to collect second position sensor outputs from the one or more second position sensors;
the second controller is configured to communicate the second position sensor outputs to the first controller via the sector link between the first and second controllers;
the first controller is configured to determine the electromagnetic coupling-compensated position of the first moveable stage based at least in part on the first position sensor outputs, the second position sensor outputs, the first current sensor outputs and the second current sensor outputs.

5. A system according to claim 1 comprising a master controller, wherein the master controller is connected to communicate with the first controller and the second controller and the master controller is configured to designate which controller has ownership of the first moveable stage based at least in part on the electromagnetic coupling-compensated position by designating which of the first and second controllers is the first controller and which of the first and second controllers is the second controller.

6. A system according to claim 1 comprising a master controller, wherein the master controller is connected to communicate with the first controller and the second controller and the master controller is configured to change which controller has ownership of the first moveable stage based at least in part on a change of the electromagnetic coupling-compensated position by designating which of the first and second controllers is the first controller and which of the first and second controllers is the second controller.

7. A system according to claim 1 wherein:
the first controller is configured to determine one or more first controller control states related to control of the movement of the first moveable stage relative to the stator and the first controller is configured to communicate at least a portion of the one or more first controller control states to the second controller via the sector link between the first and second controllers; and
the second controller is configured to take ownership of and controllably move the first moveable stage on a subsequent time step based at least in part on the portion of the first controller control states.

8. A system according to claim 1 wherein the one or more moveable stages comprises a second moveable stage and the first controller is configured to determine a second electromagnetic coupling-compensated position of the second moveable stage based at least in part on the first position sensor outputs, the first current sensor outputs and the second current sensor outputs.

9. A system according to claim 1 wherein:
the one or more moveable stages comprises a second moveable stage;
the second sector comprises one or more second position sensors for sensing a position of the first moveable stage;
the second controller is configured to collect second position sensor outputs from the one or more second position sensors;
the first controller is configured to communicate the first position sensor outputs and the first current sensor outputs to the second controller via the sector link between

Assignees

• Univ British Columbia

Inventors

• Lu Xiaodong

Classifications

• H10P72/50

  for positioning, orientation or alignment · CPC title

• H02K41/02 Primary

  Linear motors; Sectional motors · CPC title

• H02P25/06

  Linear motors · CPC title

• H02K2201/18

  Machines moving with multiple degrees of freedom · CPC title

• B65G54/02

  electrostatic, electric, or magnetic · CPC title