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2023 Author : Hannah Pearcy | [email protected] . Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:12
construction practice: PI celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2020. How did it all start?
Markus Spanner: The company's history began 50 years ago: Physik Instrumente (PI) was founded as a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Munich. Seven years later, the company was taken over by today's shareholders. Since then, PI has developed from a manufacturer of components for optical structures for laser beam guidance and from nano-positioning devices to a solution provider with a broad product portfolio and technology spectrum.
The expert
Markus Spanner has been managing the Physik Instrumente (PI) business since the beginning of 2020. The 41-year-old has had management responsibility at PI for eleven years, most recently as commercial director. Physik Instrumente (PI) employs more than 1,300 people worldwide and has 15 locations in Europe, North America and Asia. The company is a leader in technologies for high-precision positioning in high-tech industries such as the semiconductor industry, life sciences, photonics and industrial automation.
construction practice: How is the company doing today, what are its focal points?
Spanner: Today PI employs around 1300 people worldwide and generated consolidated sales of over EUR 180 million in 2019. The focus is increasingly on industrial automation because the requirements develop where our core competencies already lie. We are moving towards this market in order to be able to optimally meet the requirements and optimize our products in order to be able to offer our customers efficient high-tech solutions.
Construction Practice Podcast
Episode 1: Hexapods
The Konstruktionsspraxis podcast, the specialist magazine for listening, provides quick and entertaining information about exciting technology topics. In this episode we talk to Markus Spanner, Managing Director of Physik Instrumente (PI), about hexapods.
construction practice: What have been and are the product highlights of PI in the past 50 years?
Spanner: Our piezo-based nanopositioning systems are unique, with which we have enabled many of our customers to break through technological boundaries. In order to make ourselves independent of the components available on the market, we founded PI Ceramic GmbH, based in Lederhose, Thuringia, in 1992. PI Ceramic now has a high level of market penetration in the field of piezoceramic components and actuators. The legendary hexapods that we developed back in the 1990s are also among our successes. Our range of hexapods ranges from palm-sized versions to systems that can position ten tons.
#Sponsored
Enabler of construction
Position hexapods with maximum freedom
construction practice: You mentioned the hexapods. What exactly is behind these products?
Spanner: Hexapods are "robots" or systems that can position in six degrees of freedom. The special thing about it is its parallel kinematic structure. With hexapods there is only one moving platform on which six variable-length actuators act simultaneously. This ensures a high overall rigidity of the system with a low moving mass. This results in high dynamics, high path accuracy and high repeat accuracy for all axes of motion. At the same time, this construction enables a significantly more compact structure than is the case with stacked systems. A major advantage of the hexapods is that the user can freely define the pivot point, i.e. the pivot point.
Construction practice: When are the six-legged legs ideally used?
Spanner: Hexapods are used when it comes to moving and positioning in compact installation space with high precision in six degrees of freedom and the travel requirements are not too high.
Hexapod
Flat hexapod for industrial automation
construction practice: Can you describe some applications?
Stretcher: According to the different designs, the fields of application of the hexapods are very diverse. It started in astronomy with the alignment of the mirrors of telescopes. Today we increasingly see focal points in industrial automation as an "on-top addition" for swivel arm robots for increased precision or in motion simulation for the qualification of sensors and image stabilization algorithms. An exciting application is the testing and packaging of components in silicon electronics. This requires adjustment mechanisms that work with nanometer precision. Since visual or mechanical references are not precise enough, optimization has to be done via the optical signal itself. These components are often equipped with multiple inputs and outputs and parallel optical paths,which each interact and have to be optimized at the same time in order to save time and often also because serial optimization does not lead to the goal due to the optical conditions. So far, there has been no adequate solution. With our decades of experience as a precision supplier for the semiconductor industry, we have developed a system that fulfills the requirements for parallel optical alignment in several degrees of freedom - a decisive step forward for the mass production of so-called SiP components. The FMPA (Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment) system is based on the combination of a high-speed piezo scanner, a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment.to save time and often also because serial optimization does not lead to the goal due to the optical conditions. So far, there has been no adequate solution. With our decades of experience as a precision supplier for the semiconductor industry, we have developed a system that fulfills the requirements for parallel optical alignment in several degrees of freedom - a decisive step forward for the mass production of so-called SiP components. The FMPA (Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment) system is based on the combination of a high-speed piezo scanner, a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment.to save time and often also because serial optimization does not lead to the goal due to the optical conditions. So far, there has been no adequate solution. With our decades of experience as a precision supplier for the semiconductor industry, we have developed a system that fulfills the requirements for parallel optical alignment in several degrees of freedom - a decisive step forward for the mass production of so-called SiP components. The FMPA (Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment) system is based on the combination of a high-speed piezo scanner, a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment. So far, there has been no adequate solution. With our decades of experience as a precision supplier for the semiconductor industry, we have developed a system that fulfills the requirements for parallel optical alignment in several degrees of freedom - a decisive step forward for the mass production of so-called SiP components. The FMPA (Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment) system is based on the combination of a high-speed piezo scanner, a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment. So far, there has been no adequate solution. With our decades of experience as a precision supplier for the semiconductor industry, we have developed a system that fulfills the requirements for parallel optical alignment in several degrees of freedom - a decisive step forward for the mass production of so-called SiP components. The FMPA (Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment) system is based on the combination of a high-speed piezo scanner, a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment.that meets the requirements for parallel optical alignment in several degrees of freedom - a decisive step forward for the mass production of so-called SiP components. The FMPA (Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment) system is based on the combination of a high-speed piezo scanner, a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment.that meets the requirements for parallel optical alignment in several degrees of freedom - a decisive step forward for the mass production of so-called SiP components. The FMPA (Fast Multi-Channel Photonics Alignment) system is based on the combination of a high-speed piezo scanner, a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment.a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment.a micro positioning system (XYZ or 6-axis hexapod) and a high-performance controller with firmware-based routines for optical alignment.
Advertorial: Hexapod
Help for the robot arm
construction practice: How complex is the implementation of hexapods and when does it pay off?
Spanner: The implementation is easy because the Hexapod can be controlled via normal coordinate systems. The transformation calculations for the parallel kinematics take place in the controller. We also support modern industrial interfaces such as Ethercat for the integration of higher-level controls. Our application engineers help with implementation and commissioning. In the example mentioned, the Hexapod is an important basic requirement. The customer benefit comes in combination with our software: The systems are controlled in such a way that they complete the test processes about ten times faster than conventional solutions. These are clear savings potential for customers and their applications.
construction practice: What trends do you see in the market for positioning systems, especially hexapods?
Spanner: More precision, combined with higher throughput rates and extreme reliability requirements. Hexapods are getting smaller and smaller and have to withstand the requirements of industrial automation in particular.
construction practice: Which vision does PI pursue, where is the journey going?
Spanner: PI is a company that is always moving and developing. The urge for innovation and collaboration is deeply rooted in our DNA. Last year we were ranked 3rd in the hidden champions of the Handelsblatt. If we talk about higher throughput rates and the integration of high-precision axes and subsystems, process understanding and close cooperation with the customer is increasingly necessary. We are prepared for this. We are curious, entrepreneurial and open to new things. We push the boundaries of what is technically feasible and enable customers to place superior solutions on the market.
construction practice: Thank you very much Mr. Spanner.
