Development of a new Piezo-Optical Tip-tilt mechanism
A new tip-tilt mechanism based on low voltage piezoelectric actuators has been designed by Cedrat Technologies (CTEC) to answer the need of a Point Ahead Mechanism (PAM) for the JPL Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) module of incoming Psyche mission. The PAM aims at deviating optical downlink signal towards earth position during DSOC communication phases. CTEC was sub-contracted by L3-Harris, working with JPL, to design, manufacture and test the performances of PAM engineering and flight models.
The PAM consists in a 2-rotation axis (“Tip Tilt”), small range and pointing mechanism with Strain Gages positioning sensors, mounted on a bracket including a thermal sensor. The PAM is based on a two stiff push pull pairs of APA120SM® actuators. It produces more than +/-2.8mrad for both axis rotations for the full -40/+65°C operational temperature spectrum with loaded mechanical resonant frequencies above 800Hz.
Philip BATES from Fusion for Energy is talking about CTEC rotative piezo motors based on MSPA:
“The In-Vessel Viewing System is a LIDAR metrology instrument designed for deployment inside the ITER Vacuum Vessel to assess any damage, erosion or displacements of the ITER Components. When deployed, it will face extreme environmental conditions, with 8 Tesla magnetic field as well as high temperature and neutron and gamma radiation. CTEC piezomotors were identified as an ideal technology to scan the LIDAR beam across the in-vessel components, however the lifetime and environmental requirements of ITER pushed far beyond the state-of-the art available from piezo actuators, and CTEC have begun the first phase of testing to demonstrate that their actuators can meet the reliability and lifetime requirements of the system. Environmental and radiation tests are foreseen in the near future, to confirm that CTEC actuators can provide the driving force behind inspection of ITER components.”
>> Contact us for more information
CTEC just releases its new CCBu40 controller board for driving and controlling its 2 axis piezo mechanisms like XY or Tip tilt stages. Compared to the existing CCBu20 controller, the CCBu40 has an output rms current of 0.36 A per channel (10 times higher than CCBu20) for a twice larger footprint. The CCBu40 is recommended for increasing the control bandwidth and especially for driving larger capacitance based piezo 2 axis mechanism (>0.5uF/axis). CTEC also proposes 2 heat sinker options to be integrated on the base plate for power dissipation depending on the environmental and dynamic operating conditions.
Download the technical datasheet for more information.
The DTT60SM-SG is a piezo Tip Tilt Platform with 10 mrad peak to peak amplitude (+/- 5 mrad). This steering platform can welcome a large spectrum of mirror diameters up to 2 inches (~50 mm). As an option, CTEC can also provide the user with a specific mirror integrated and tested with the DTT60SM-SG platform. Strain Gages Sensor (SGS) are bonded on each axis to monitor the angular positioning and the related SGS conditioner is integrated in the PCB platform. This feature allows the SGS positioning feedback signal to be non-sensitive to the external disturbances and to the cable length between the DTT60SM-SG and the controller. This is very useful for embedded Electro Optic systems where control electronics and optical payloads can be separated by long distance cable. The low capacitance per axis (3uF) leads to reduce the power consumption over a large control bandwidth. The CCBu40 controller box is recommended for using the DTT60SM-SG in dynamic condition with operating frequency up to 200 Hz at full stroke. The main applications are Fast steering Mirrors, micro-scanning and Line of sight stabilization in embedded Electro Optic systems.
Download the technical datasheet for more information.
The XY300M-SG is a 2 axis stage with more than 300 microns of stroke per axis and an unloaded resonance frequency higher than 300 Hz. This stage has a symmetric mechanical axis configuration based on 2 Amplified Piezo Actuators APA® integrated in electrical push-pull configuration around the payload interface. This results in a self-compensated thermomechanical behavior of the payload position over a wide temperature range [-40°C…+60°C] where the stage provides a nominal +/- 150 microns of stroke in closed loop. It is recommended to control this stage with CCBu40 in order to benefit from both the full operating and control bandwidth. The main applications are lens micro-scanning and Line of sight stabilization in embedded Electro Optic systems for image resolution enhancement and Anti blurring functions.
Download the technical datasheet for more information.
The OLIVE-SOUND project started the first of January 2019, with a total project investment of 4.4 million euro and five partners, Group Pieralisi and the University of Bari from Italy, AIDISA and Almazara del Ebro, S Coop from Spain and CEDRAT Tec from France, it brings together research facilities, olive oil equipment manufactures and end users. Cedrat Tec is responsible for the design of the transducers, and drivers together with the mounting and testing of the system.
The project aims at eliminating the current need for the long and costly batch step of malaxation of the olive paste into a continuous process. OLIVE-SOUND aims to introduce into the market in 24 months a novel Ultrasound reactor for the treatment of olive paste which will replace malaxation, restore continuity and boost the VOO extraction process.
The project will run for two years and is partly financed under the Horizon 2020 funding program.
Feel free to contact us for more information.
CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES (CTEC), EVEON and LRP Grenoble presented the DIPSA project to the regional BOOSTER innovation call on September 11th, 2018. Following the acceptance by La Région Rhône Alpes Auvergne on March 2019, the first kickoff meeting of the project was organised with the partners on April 15th, 2019 in the premises of CTEC.
This project aims at designing, developing and testing a functional prototype of a needless medical device integrating a piezo actuator.
The position Eddy Current Sensors ECS developed by CTEC with the support of French Space Agency CNES are contactless sensors made of an Eddy Current Probe (ECP) with an associated conditioner. ECS electronics manage the signal from the ECP probe to provide a precise measurement of the probe-to-target distance with enhanced bandwidth reaching 20kHz.
Again with the support of CNES, applying experience gained with ECS, new Linear End-stroke Sensors LES1000 have been developed in 2018. They integrate the electronic circuit (with space equivalent components) inside the sensor back side to offer an all-in one solution. Due to their attractive performance, they have already been selected by ESA to fulfil needs for Contactless Micro-Switches !
Fine Stepping Piezo Actuator (FSPA) is a patented actuator that combines SPA technology with mechanical reduction. This allows to achieve very small step sizes even down to 10 nm.
Another major advantage of FSPA is its ability to maintain its position,while unpowered, even when very large outer forces or acceleration are applied. Typical speed for FSPA is 200 µm/s.
Typical application for this actuator is to finely tune the position of a component and maintain this position afterward even though environmental conditions may get real bad such as during off-road transportation, space launch or aircraft landing…
Have a look to the technical datasheet of our FSPA35XS.
Feel free to contact us for more information on this product.
Held over a period of three years, the MC-Suite project allowed the development of new generation of ICT enabled process simulation, and optimization tools. Cedrat Technologies’s contribution was to design, manufacture and test four different systems, in the fields of force sensing, vibration damping, and vibration cancellation.
In the last period of MC-Suite project, the MICA300CM Proof Mass actuator commenced a lifetime test at CTEC, with the objective of demonstrating a fatigue life far beyond 20000 Hours at full stroke (two billion cycles). This long duration test, which will be continued from now and for several years, is expected to qualify the Proof Mass for ultra-long duration operational conditions, with zero maintenance, such as within nonstop industrial machining processes or even space compressors for cryocoolers.
Contact us to obtain more information.
On 22/08/2018, ESA’s AEOLUS satellite was successfully launched into polar orbit on a Vega rocket. AEOLUS carries ALADIN, the first instrument measuring the wind from space ever built. ALADIN is a DOPPLER LIDAR using a Laser Transmitter (TXA) developed by GALILEO AVIONICA (presently LEONARDO).
In this interferometric application, the high power laser has both to emit frequency stable light and to be precisely tunable (for receiver calibration), which is contradictory. To this end, a laser frequency control is performed by the dynamic tuning of the laser cavity (Master Oscillator) of the TXA Power Laser Head. To realise this tuning, CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES (CTEC) has developed for GALILEO AVIONICA a Hollow Prestress Piezo Actuator (HPPA) which modify the cavity length by fine and fast moving the output coupler of the Master Oscillator.
Severe dynamic specifications were unusually required for this HPPA piezoactuator. The HPPA had to present a resonant frequency of about 30kHz to offer a bandwidth of 10kHz. Correlatively qualification required a very large number of cycles reaching 4.1010 cycles, which was passed establishing a new life time record. An additional lesson learnt was the need for Lot Acceptance Test (LAT) and Destructive Part Analysis (DPA) in order to secure and to comply with the quality process applied on the batch of multilayer piezo ceramics from the Engineering to the Flight models. Thanks to LAT and DPA defined and applied by CTEC, any defects observed inside the batch samples of piezo ceramic parts with critical impact on the performances of the HPPA (dynamic, life time,etc...) have been unveiled. These LAT & DPA results were feedback to the partner supplier of the piezo ceramic batch in order to correct, to adjust and to improve accordingly its manufacturing process for making optimum quality parts. This LAT & DPA helped to strengthen the quality insurance on the critical part (piezo ceramic) and the partnership between CTEC, its supplier and client while solving any risk of project delay due to manufacturing quality issues on critical part like piezo ceramic.
Since this event, ESA has entrusted the ECSS norms for the design and test of piezo actuators in space to CTEC. The experience gained by CTEC in ALADIN has been used to develop other HPPA actuators for SWARM mission (flying since 2013) as well as for the Beam Steering Actuator (BSA) of the ATLID Atmospheric Lidar for EARTHCARE satellite. It could be useful also for other ESA future Meteorological missions using a LIDAR such as MERLIN.
H2020 ReMAP Project will contribute to reinforce the European leadership in aeronautics by developing an open-source solution for aircraft maintenance, the Integrated Fleet Health Management (IFHM) system. By replacing fixed-interval inspections with adaptive condition-based interventions, ReMAP will have an estimated benefit to the European aviation of more than 700 million Euros per year. This is due to a direct decrease in maintenance costs, reduced unscheduled aircraft maintenance events, and increased aircraft availability. In this project, Cedrat Technologies (CTEC) will be responsible for managing the technical activities of ReMAP WP3 which concerns the development of the selected sensor technologies for damage monitoring and will drive the realisation of CTEC share in ReMAP focusing on piezo solutions for SHM.
CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES (CTEC) piezo mechanisms and their associated electronics are widely used in Air, Space & Defence (ASD) applications. They can be found in optical instruments, cameras, telescopes and electro optic systems embedded on airplanes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), satellites, spacecrafts. Fast Steering Mirrors (FSM) are core products continuously developed by CTEC for optical pointing applications for Space and Optronics. During the last decade, best development efforts have been focused on piezoelectric mechanism technology, in order to achieve ultra-high frequency bandwidth control performance over small angle strokes (< 1°). New applications under maturation in Europe, such as laser optical communication, require much higher angle strokes compared to the existing state of the art, which cannot be easily achieved by piezoelectric technology. Therefore, CTEC is focusing on the development of a new family “Magnetic Fast Steering Mirror” (M-FSM) based on high angle stroke magnetic actuators (~ 4°).
MSPA modules ensure miniaturisation functions for fast micro positioning on unlimited strokes either linear or rotating: with typical sizes in the range cm3, these modules perform the tangential drive of a load by friction. The load driven by a MSPA can be either the mobile part of stage or a rotor. Their tangential driving speed can vary from 0 to 50mm/s. Their driving force can reach more than 1N. When power off, the load is locked at rest, with a holding force up to 10N. In dynamic, the MSPA modules perform controllable micro steps of 5 to 25µm by inertial effect driving the load in stick slick. Because of its inertia, the load can be driven at constant speed. In quasi-static, the MSPA offer a fine positioning of the load, better than 1 nm in linear or 10 pico rad in rotating. The MSPA allows the realisation of piezoelectric motors powerful and very reliable: the MSPA are based on the Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators APA® high reliability components benefiting of a large space heritage: The MSPA can work in vacuum and in a large range of temperatures from -270°C to 70°C. They resist to shocks and vibrations. They are cost effective because based on only one APA® needing only one electronic supply channel. The MSPA applications address the linear and rotating micro-motorisations for refocusing, goniometers, samples orientation, shutters, wheel filters, pointing mechanisms… The development of MSPA is supported by BPI France in the framework of Eurostars ELVISA project.
Cedrat Technologies is partner of the project OLIVE-SOUND. The OLIVE-SOUND concept was triggered by the need of the olive oil producers to face the main challenge in the current Virgin olive oil (VOO) extraction process; convert the long and costly batch step of malaxation of the olive paste into a continuous process. OLIVE-SOUND aims to introduce into the market a novel Ultrasound reactor for the treatment of olive paste which will replace malaxation, restore continuity and boost the VOO extraction process.
Le salon Photonics West rassemble de plus en plus d’exposants. Pour cette édition 2018 plus de 23 000 visiteurs ont été enregistrés. Grâce à la subvention octroyée par la Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Cedrat Technologies (CTEC) a pu détacher sur son stand deux salariés. L'aide de la région qui finance 40% des frais de déplacement et de séjour pour une personne représente un montant non négligeable pour toute entreprise désireuse de développer sa notoriété à l'international. CTEC a rencontré plus de 20 contacts sur 3 jours, l’opportunité de faire le point avec des clients, des prospects et des partenaires sur des projets en cours ou à venir et de faire une veille sur la concurrence nombreuse.
PicSat, a 3U CubeSat satellite, has been developed in record time by a small team of scientists and technicians at the Paris Observatory in France, to unravel the mysteries of a young star system in the solar neighbourhood.
PicSat carries a Cedrat Technologies piezo stage XY400M that is a crucial element of the payload. The stage generates two perpendicular translations of 400 µm thanks to four APA400M actuators. Moreover the actuators are fitted with strain gauges sensors to control the displacements.
Fast Steering Mirrors are core products continuously developed by Cedrat Technologies (CTEC) for optical pointing applications, for Space, and Optronic domains. During the last decade, main development efforts where focused on piezoelectric mechanisms technology, in order to achieve ultra-high frequency bandwidth control performance over small angle strokes. New applications under maturation in Europe, such as laser optical communication, require much higher angle strokes compared to the existing state of the art, which cannot be easily achieved by piezoelectric technology. Therefore CTEC is focusing on the development of a new Fast Steering Mirror family based on high angle stroke magnetic actuators.
French ANR project so called EMERGE deals with design and development of a self-powered, fine-tunable knee implant. Project started in 2014 and is came to its end in December 2017. CTEC was in charge of design of compact and powerful motor (FSPA for Fine Stepping Piezo Actuator), able to provide large force, high resolution and support human load during patient activities. A macroscopic engineering model has been successfully developed and tested. Targeted force above 100N over 6mm stroke has been validated, with volume of 50mmx44mm in diameter. Output linear resolution can be adjusted typically from 50nm to 200nm in stepping mode, with 1kN holding force without power supply.
We kindly invite you to join the largest meeting of photonics professionals: the Photonics World of Lasers and Optics fair from February 27th to March 2nd, 2018.
Should you need more information feel free to visit the official website dedicated to the event.
Our partner and distributor, Industrial Metrology Co.LTD, will be delighted to welcome you on its booth #75D10 to discuss your projects and present you CTEC products and technologies.
Industrial Metrology Co LTD (St.-Petersburg, Russia) is a professional distributer of Russian Hi-Rel electronic components whose strategy focuses on Aerospace market.
The first of a number of products being developed within the MC-Suite project has been undergoing testing, with excellent results.
The single axis force feedback table is able to measure loadings up to 20kN, however at the same time the rigidity of the system remains high, with a calculated stiffness of 3.05kN/µm in the vertical direction. The table is rated IP67, and with a diameter of 100mm by 70mm high, and a weight of 3.1kg remains compact.
View the video to see the table in operation!
The use of an ECS sensor allows the cost of this table to be considerably lower than existing tables using alternative sensor systems, furthermore the ECS technology is easily scalable, enabling greater loading or more axis of measurement to be easily achieved.
Further products being developed within MC-Suite include a single axis force feedback tool holder equipped with wireless data transmission and an active proof mass damper.
MC-Suite is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme GA n°. 680478".
Cedrat Technologies is member of CLIMA project, funded under the FUI 19, involving 10 French partners, with a duration of 3 years.
The work of the project focuses on mechanical junctions, which are the main source of depreciation in many cases. The project aims to develop innovative technological solutions (damping bearings, self-locking nuts, damping collages, instrumented fixings, pilot fasteners) as well as specific software tools for the identification and prediction of damping in these junctions. The innovations generated by the CLIMA project must make it possible to reduce the risks of over-dimensioning of structures, which result from ignorance of precise dynamic behaviour.
Cedrat Technologies hosted the half project meeting (To+18m) in its facilities in Meylan. It has been the opportunity for the partners to discover laboratory and production means and capabilities besides presenting advancements within the project and especially the Micro controller demonstrator, for embedded closed-loop piezo actuators, developed with partners.
Cedrat Technologies wants to thank its partners for this efficient and fruitful meeting.
View the video on our Micro controller for embedded piezo with APA® actuator.
The Double Tip Tilt (DTT35XS) from CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES (CTEC) is a piezo Tip Tilt Platform to move or to position a mirror along 2 axis of rotation. The purpose is to make either a Point Ahead Mechanism or a Fast Steering or a Beam steering Mirror. The first DTT35XS prototype was initially developed in 2003 for the CNES space project called PHARAO.
The DTT35XS off the shelves version is based on two pairs of APA35XS, Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators APA® displaying 35 µm of stroke each, arranged in cross configuration to allow an angular deflection of +/- 2 mrad around the X and Y axes. In order to achieve the two θx and θy angular deflections, each pair of APA35XS is electrically driven in push pull configuration and controlled in position by the standard CCBu20 controller box.
CTEC have been developing several customized versions of the DTT35XS together with CCBu20 for more than 10 years that are now widely used and embedded in Electro-Optic (EO) space and defence systems.
The features of the standard & custom designed versions of the DTT35XS provides the EO customers with a Compact, Dynamic and Precise solution to improve the performances of their embedded vision systems.
To name but a few applications are:
In the frame of ROXTAR, a MINALOGIC project dedicated to develop the next generation of XRay sensor for medical application, it has been spotted by our partner TRIXELL the interest to develop the capability of a blinded alignment between the imager and Xray emitter. The alignment function allows a better positioning of the imager relatively to emitter in order to:
Cedrat Technologies (CTEC) designed and developed an accurate contactless magnetic long range (1.5 m) alignment function, based on magnetic technologies. This challenging technology where optical alignment is not allowed brings a positioning help to the medical operator, and hence achieve an alignment with a position resolution lower than 1mm and an angle resolution less than 0.1°.
A demonstrator has been developed integrating an user friendly Graphical User Interface, and shows the full capabilities of CTEC to specify and design from hardware to system level.
More information will be soon available.
French innovator CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES launches MICA™, its new range of linear actuators.
CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES is unveiling its linear Moving Iron Controllable Actuator (MICA™) product line onto the market, with associated drive electronics, in response to requirements in the industrial sector for highly reliable, long-life solutions.
The moving iron actuator designs created by CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES are the highest performing in the sector compared to other classical magnetic actuators. The MICA™ actuator range is designed for high controllability, with higher force levels within more compact volumes and greater electrical efficiency. Their high efficiency results in heat dissipation through the very low Joule effect, together with easy and direct cooling on dedicated interfaces.
The new MICA200M is now available as a product. This linear actuator is issued from research work performed in the frame of the INTEFIX EC project and shows tremendous acceleration capabilities of 71 G in continuous mode and 132 G in peak mode. MICA200M complete the MICA (Moving Iron Controllable Actuator ) family.
MICA family actuators are well suited for ultra long lifetime applications, allowing achieving zero maintenance over several years of continuous operation. They are especially relevant for continuous operation with high level of integration inside production machines, and machining processes requiring vibration assistance, or precision control such as active chatter suppression.
Cedrat Technologies is participating in the MC-Suite project, involving 12 partners, spread over 7 countries with a duration of 3 years.
Bringing together universities, research centres, SME’s and Machine tool manufactures. This consortium covers the full range of interested partners from fundamental research institutes, software providers, equipment providers, machine tool builders and end users.
The objective is to develop the next generation of ICT enabled process simulation and optimization tools, backed up by physical measurements and monitoring, the resulting deliverables will increase the competence of the European manufacturing industry.
Cedrat Technologies is responsible for monitoring and measuring force feedback in real time during the machining process, providing a single axis force feedback table, a three axis force feedback table and a single axis tool holder equipped with force feedback and wireless data transmission.
For further information please visit the project web site at http://www.mc-suite.eu/
CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES (CTEC) participation to the 15th International Conference on new Actuators was once again an undeniable opportunity to introduce new products and technologies.
> Force Stepping Piezo Actuator: a motorised solution for high resolution positioning and external forces resistance
> Encapsulated piezo actuators for use at high power levels and/or within harsh environmental conditions
> Semi-passive vibration control technique via shunting of Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators
> Compact, Efficient and controllable moving Iron actuation chain for industrial application
> Nanometric Linear Piezo-Actuator with integrated Strain Gages for high stability positioning
> Pulsed air high performances valves improve aerodynamic flow over airplane wings
> Module Stepping Piezoelectric Actuator - A versatile way of micro-positioning actuation -
> Potentialities of APA Composite Shell Actuators and SA75D Amplifier for New Dynamic Applications
Feel free to contact us to obtain more information.
Attend our training sessions in Bremen on June 16th, just after ACTUATOR 2016 !
Two 1-day parallel sessions will be performed by CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES in the Congress Center Bremen:
The courses are opened to engineers, PhD students and technicians willing to ave a first knowledge on piezo or linear actuators. As these training courses are not part of ACTUATOR 2016, a separate registration is required. Should you be interested in attending one session feel free to contact our training department at training.ct@cedrat-tec.com or by phone +33 (4) 56 58 04 14 (asking for Ms Hugi Sandrine).
To know more about our training offer we invite you to download our new Training Catalogue.
CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES Team
Cedrat Technologies is one of four partners(1) involved in the AEROPZT project “Development of materials, processes, and means to enable the application of Piezoelectric materials in aero engine controls”. The project has now been completed, successfully achieving all objectives.
Within the AEROPZT project Cedrat Technologies has developed both APA and PPA encapsulated actuators, fluid filled, together with optional compressed air cooling, allowing continuous operation at up to 1.3kHz and full stroke.
Furthermore, with the finish of the AEROPZT project in May, the encapsulation research carried out has now been extrapolated across the standard actuator range, and it is now possible to provide any of the APA or PPA actuators in an encapsulated version, the project has resulted in genuine product enhancement.
(1) The partners that participated in the AEROPZT project are:
> TWI Ltd (UK)
> Cedrat Technologies (France)
> Politecnico di Torino (Italy)
> Noliac A/S (Denmark)
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) for the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative under grant agreement n° [632604].
From November 5th to 7th 2014, CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES organized its third international distributors’ meeting in Meylan, France. 12 partners coming from all over the world (UK, Spain, Finland, Belgium, India, Israel, Japan...) attended these intensive & fruitful days of work and exchange about CTEC products and technologies. Their feedback was very positive and they came back home with a clear answer on their expectations and a deep knowledge of our existing and potential business in their respective country. The program was mainly dedicated to CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES’s products and success stories, facilities tour, marketing and strategy.
We are aware that an efficient distribution network is an undeniable opportunity to develop our business and we do thank all of our partners for their participation!
The project is approaching its one year anniversary achieving: development of a system process design (discussed in the project update), specified ionic liquids and eutectic solvents selected and created.The projects month 12 consortium meeting was hosted in San Sebastian by Tecnalia.From this point onwards the consortium plan to deliver the specifications of the chosen task specific ionic liquids and materials for recovering metals from the black mass, and the validation of metal recyclability (striving for a 95% metal recovery yield).
CTEC role in CoLaBATS deals with the ultrasonic (US) system to be used in the main reactor and final tank. CTEC will design, manufacture and test an appropriate US system, including the vibration generator, sonotrode, and electronics that will be adapted to the specific ionic liquid to produce homogeneous ultrasonic vibrations to promote breaking the battery electrode structure.
CoLaBATS newletter...
CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES is owning a trademark registration for its APA® (Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators).
>> March 2010, certificate of registration issued by the Office for Harmonization in the internal market (OHIM).
>> May 2010, certificate of registration issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
>> October 2013, certificate of registration issued by the Government of India
A few weeks ago, ESA announced a successful wake up of Rosetta satellite and MIDAS instrument. ROSETTA satellite was launched on March 2004 from Kourou, French Guyana, using an Ariane-5 G+ launcher. The spacecraft includes about ten different instruments whose one so called MIDAS.
The MIDAS instrument uses an XYZ piezo electric stage from CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES in the scanning mechanism of its on-board Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The function of this mechanism is to ensure the nano-resolution scanning motion of the AFM under a severe environment. Although operated under static conditions, the ability of CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES actuators to withstand large vibrations thanks to their pre-stress allowed the mechanism to pass vibration tests.
After 10 years CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES mechanism is still working fine!
