New Technology Report describes high-torque piezoelectric rotary motor for fiber positioning in spectrometer for ground-based telescope
Victor, NY — June 6, 2011 — New Scale Technologies has received a NASA Board Award for the New Technology Report (NTR) describing a high-torque piezoelectric rotary motor designed for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As reported in the Feb. 2011 issue of NASA Tech Briefs, the rotary piezo motors drive a two-axis fiber optic positioner in a wide-field spectrometer for ground-based telescopes.
The NTR was submitted by Rob Culhane, electrical engineer at New Scale and a key member of the custom motor development team for the project. The New Scale team collaborated with the customer’s design team in their development of the fiber positioner.
New Scale’s rotary piezo motors were selected over other postioner concepts due to their exceptional characteristics: smallest size, high torque and high resolution.
The motors will drive an array of fiber positioners in a spectrometer that replaces the secondary mirror of a telescope. With the fiber positioners, the wide-field spectrometer enables astronomers to conduct large-scale celestial object surveys in a practical amount of time. Learn more about the fiber positioner array here.
The NASA Board Award is given in recognition of New Scale’s “contribution… to the National Space Program and to the mission of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.”
“We’re proud to be supporting NASA with leading-edge technology for astronomy, spectroscopy and other essential research,” said Dan Viggiano III, director of custom products at New Scale. “This is a well-deserved recognition for Rob and the New Scale team, who consistently go ‘above and beyond’ in collaborating with our customers on their unique motion system requirements.”
About New Scale Technologies
New Scale Technologies develops small, precise and smart motion systems for critical adjustments of optics in imaging devices and many other micro positioning applications. Our simple and elegant solutions deliver best-in-class performance in consumer imaging, biometric authentication, surveillance, medical devices, scientific instruments, haptic systems and many other markets. We design and manufacture custom products and license our technology to manufacturers worldwide. Our customers benefit from complete motion solutions that are tailored to their unique requirements and easily integrated into their next-generation instruments.
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