Physics instruments
| Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH & Co.KG
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|---|---|
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| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1970 |
| Seat | Karlsruhe , Germany |
| management |
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| Number of employees | 990 (2017)> 1100 (2019) |
| sales | EUR 182 million (2019) |
| Branch | Precision positioning, nanotechnology |
| Website | www.physikinstrument.com |
| Status: 2017 | |
Physik Instrumente (PI) is a German, privately owned industrial company that was founded in 1970 by Prof. Bardocz and other shareholders as a spin-off from the Max Planck Society . The Karlsruhe company supplies positioning technology that is accurate to the nanometer .
In the founding years, the research and university landscape was the company's main customer. In the meantime, the Karlsruhe-based company also serves the semiconductor industry , the automotive industry , the biotech industry, mechanical engineering , the medical technology industry and the process industry .
Physik Instrumente has been developing and manufacturing standard and OEM products with piezo or motor drives for 1970 years . The company has four offices in Germany and fifteen foreign sales and service branches on three continents.
The youngest member of the Physik Instrumente group is the Israeli company ACS Motion Control, which was acquired in 2017.
Company structure and locations
The company's headquarters are in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. The company is privately owned. There are four production sites in Germany:
- Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg: headquarters (since 1977). Technology center and production. Focus: Positioning technology with different types of drive, control technology, software, system construction, sales
- Eschbach, Baden-Württemberg: Headquarters of the subsidiary PI miCos (since 2011), formerly micos GmbH. Technology development and production of magnetic drive systems
- Rosenheim, Bavaria: Development and production of control electronics
- Lederhose, Thuringia: Headquarters of the subsidiary PI Ceramic (since 1992). Center for the development and production of piezoelectric components and actuators
Other production sites:
- Auburn, Massachusetts, USA: PI USA (since 1987). Custom systems
- Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA: Formerly Nelson Air (since 2015). Development and production of air bearing technology
- Shanghai, China: Development and production of positioning technology, sensors and control
- Migdal Ha-Emek, Israel: ACS Motion Control (since 2016). Development and production of industrial controls
PI is represented worldwide with its own sales and service branches. The company maintains test equipment for nano- metrology in Europe, USA, and Asia. PI Shanghai and PI USA also have development and manufacturing resources on site.
Technologies
Since the 1970s, the focus of activity of Physik Instrumente has been the use of piezo drives for motion control and positioning down to the nanometer range.
To increase the vertical range of manufacture, Physik Instrumente has had the subsidiary PI Ceramic since 1992, which manufactures the piezo components and piezo actuators that are built into the products of Physik Instrumente .
In recent years, Physik Instrumente has expanded its research to include linear motors and related technologies such as air bearings . The competence in industrial motion controls was supported by the acquisition of companies.
Industry sectors
The technologies of Physik Instrumente are used in various applications in industry and science. Physics instrument markets and applications include:
- Photonics
- Semiconductor industry
- Industrial automation
- mechanical engineering
- measuring technology
- Scientific instrumentation / research institutions
- astronomy
- biotechnology
- microscopy
- Additive manufacturing
Product portfolio
The product portfolio includes:
- Piezo nanopositioning tables
- Linear tables
- Linear actuators
- Rotary tables
- Cross tables
- Hexapods
- Multi-channel fiber positioning systems
- Piezoelectric components and actuators
- Air bearings and air bearing tables
- Controller and driver electronics
- Sensors
credentials
In the automotive industry , robots and humans work together. The parallel kinematic system Hexapod (a work area of PI) compensates for possible inaccuracies in the robot arm or positions, for example, a car door so that workers can carry out further work steps.
With piezoelectrically generated, rapid opening and closing movements, it is possible to generate small plastic droplets with a diameter of 0.2 to 0.4 mm for 3D printing under pressure .
Level measurements based on the principle of transit time measurement of a sound pulse reflected from the respective surface work with piezo transducers , u. a. manufactured by PI.
X-ray spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation requires precisely guided X-ray optics . Physik Instrumente supplied a kinematic carrier platform for this purpose.
PM manufactures piezoelectric stepping drives that can position with nanometer accuracy, have high holding forces, zero backlash and rigidity. At the German Electron Synchrotron , those actuators for compensating Lorentz forces in action.
In the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiator Facility, two motor-spindle tables control the heavy screens for forming the X-ray beam. They can move loads of up to 800N over 50mm × 20mm.
The Extremely Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will be the largest telescope in the visible and near infrared wavelength range with a segmented main mirror 39 m in diameter and a light collecting area of almost 1000 m². Image errors are corrected dynamically by positioning and deforming the segmented main mirror. For this purpose, actuators position the mirror segments at a fraction of the wavelength of the light to one another. Hybrid drives, which combine a spindle-motor drive with a piezoelectric actuator, do this. Physik Instrumente is part of the project.
Focusing devices manufactured by PI for microscope lenses, for example for autofocusing or for recording focus series, have piezoelectric drives.
production
Physik Instrumente produces in seven autonomous organizational units (self-termed fractals). Each fractal is responsible for its own product line and has all the necessary means of production. It acts independently and controls all processes from incoming orders and material procurement through assembly and quality testing to delivery. The advantages of fractals are faster response to customer requests and shorter lead times.
According to Thomas Bauernhansl / Fraunhofer IPA , the concept is meaningful for many companies in the manufacturing industry.
Physik Instrumente has a heavy-duty hall for the assembly and measurement of workpieces with a mass of up to five tons . A polished granite plate with a flatness of 3.8 µm serves as the mounting surface. Air damping elements decouple the granite slab against external vibrations. In this way, the axes can be precisely aligned with one another during assembly. A lifting and rotating device enables payloads of up to seven tons to be rotated continuously through 360 degrees. This allows z. B. Behavior and specifications of high-load hexapods are qualified.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.weltmarktfuehrerindex.de/corp_profile/?pid=640 Entry in the world market leader index, Christoph Müller / University Entrepreneurship Corporation non-profit GmbH, accessed on June 20, 2020
- ↑ a b own presentation PI, accessed on June 20, 2020
- ↑ Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH: About PI. Retrieved December 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Physik Instrumente continues to focus on growth . In: etz - electrical engineering & automation . ( etz.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Physik Instrumente Acquires Majority of ACS Motion Control . ( photonics.com [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Irina Huebner: 2. Gas Bearing Workshop: Air bearings in electronics production . ( elektroniknet.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Irina Hübner: Acquisition: Physik Instrumente takes over motion control manufacturer . ( elektroniknet.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH: Applications & Markets. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH & Co. KG: Private Company Information - Bloomberg. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Martin Neff, Oliver Keßling: Layered functional parts on an industrial scale. (PDF) In: Kunststoffe.de. Plastic trade magazine, August 1, 2014, accessed on June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ How piezo elements get ultrasonic sensors going . Vogel Communications Group ( vogel.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ OEM walking drive for precise positioning - photonics . ( photonik.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Drive technology for the largest telescope in the world . Vogel Communications Group ( vogel.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Piezo actuators ensure a sharp eye . Vogel Communications Group ( devicemed.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ a b H. Kühnle: Paradigm Shift in Production - The Fractal Factory. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ 2014-04-11_Buch_Industrie 4.0 - Fraunhofer IPA. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .