Dynamic modeling and analysis of flexible H-type gantry stage

Conventionally, the dynamic modeling of H-type gantry stage(HGS) assumes that the stiffness of mid-beam is extremely high so that its deformation is ignorable. This assumption apparently simplifies the study, but unavoidably compromises the modeling precision as it is not consistent with the real working status especially at high frequency motion. Comparing with similar studies on moving mass problems, the beam vibration of HGS is excited not only by the moving mass and system acceleration but also by the non-synchronized motion of the two moving ends of mid-beam. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to propose an assumed mode method based on simplified mode shapes(AMM-SMS) by simultaneously considering the lateral flexibility and the motion of the ends of mid-beam. The proposed AMM-SMS adopts the mode shapes of a simplified system, which has the same geometry boundary condition(BC) with the investigated system, to discretize the nonlinear kinematic equations of the proposed system. This method improves the modeling precision with low complexity, and can be applied in different BCs of FHGS. The proposed method is verified by various comparisons with the finite element method. Based on the AMM-SMS, the first three natural frequencies and mode shapes are studied. The open-loop responses of the system are obtained to analyze the effects of different BCs, of the motion of end-effector and of the external exciting force on the vibratory behavior.