Optomechatronics

TNO translates customer's wishes into technical requirements. This in combination with knowledge of the market and technical risks yields valuable projects. TNO's inter-disciplinary approach to come to system architecture, design, manufacturing and testing has a large added value. The most important disciplines that are covered are precision mechanics, mechatronics and control. Precision mechanics focuses on achieving extreme structural stability, specific stiffness and predictable motion behavior. TNO has knowledge on the mounting of optics, precision design principles and the prediction of the system's stability. Precision mechatronics focuses on realization of very stable positioning and / or accurate motion. TNO combines dynamic system modeling and design approach with knowledge of and experience with metrology principles and of sensors and actuators. Control allows for further increasing the performance. TNO focuses, amongst PID- and MIMO control and its implementation, on optimal-, nonlinear - and adaptive control.

• Space & Astronomy
  Demands for optomechatronic systems become more and more stringent. TNO provides high-end optomechatronic subsystems, and is involved in the conceptual design phase as well as in delivering the final hardware.
• Semicon
  Besides providing high-end subsystems for EUV lithography technology, TNO addresses new lithography concepts. The experience from working on the systems for the front-end market is now also being applied to the back-end market.
• Big Science
  TNO mainly address projects for nuclear fusion (reactors ITER, W7-X and JET). Recently, also technology developments for a new CERN particle accelerator (CLIC) and stages for ESRF beam lines have been proposed.
• Medical Instrumentation
  Medical instrumentation, such as haptic surgery instruments and imaging devices, usually has high stability and accuracy requirements, and often operates in extreme environments (autoclaving, MRI scanners).

TNO knows how to design, manufacture, test and deliver systems that meet extreme requirements. Examples are:

GAIA AFMA

TNO recently realized a large scale mechatronic system that performs better on earth than the final instrument will do in space. AFMA is designed and built for ESA. It simulates GAIA's rotations in space in three degrees of freedom. The accuracy of the important scanning direction is very high: 3.2 nrad per 4,4 s

OTA for the ESO VLT

OTA consists of an a-thermalized stable 20x optical beam expander with an in-house manufactured a-spherical lens of Ø380 mm and an extremely stable mirror pointing mechanism with custom actuators. The first OTA is recently tested resulting in a very satisfied customer.

Hummingbird

TNO has, with MECAL, developed a solution to suppress disturbing vibrations in high-tech machinery with a factor 30. Also at low frequencies, while the robustness for e.g. motions of the machine is maintained. A key component is the custom designed sensor that yields very low noise.