Exploratory study of using near field acoustic levitation to separaate contacting surfaces

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The separation of interacting surfaces with a thin film of air (lowest possible resistance to motion and highest smoothness of motion) is of fundamental importance to the operation of high-precision motion systems such as lithography, hard disc drives, contact-less transportation of silicon chips, ultra-high-speed cameras. Currently available methods to secure separation are either unsuitable for the clean room environment required by these systems or they demand to much space which is unavailable in certain micro-scale devices. Clearly, a new method of creating separation of interacting surfaces is required and this project has a potential for a real breakthrough. It is proposed that the phenomenon of near-field acoustic levitation is harnessed to create the state of physical separation between two interaccting surfaces. No bulky compressed air installations are required to achieve this as the contact utilising near-field acoustic levitation will have self-lifting capability.The project aims at combining existing and new knowledge generated during the course of the project to put forward rules for designing a self-lifting contact which could be used in a real life applications. It is strongly believed that on completion of the project a new class of self-levitating sliding contacts, important for high-precision motion applications, will emerge. This will have a considerable impact on new and emerging high precision engineering technologies.