We have an air bearing for a planar xy motion. Today it consists of four pockets according to picture.
In the current design there are no sealings around the peripheries of the pockets and we suspect that is the reason we get vibrations.
In the current design we control the pressure, same for all for recesses. The flow is adjustable individually for each recess. In practice it is very hard to tune it.
For the non recess surfaces we have used Slydway as we need to be able to operate it without pressure occasionally.
To try to solve the problem we plan to develop a prototype where we can try out the effect of using sealings around the periphery of the pockets. The idea is something like this:
Questions
Is the idea with adding sealings good? (sanity check)
Suggestions for sealings? (I'm thinking a porous material like felt or cigarette filter)
Of course all suggestions are welcome.
Edit
I'm going to try and add grooves around the recesses to evaquate the air that leaks. My thinking is that this will give us a more defined area under pressure.