Scanning Performance Of Air Bearings

1.  Introduction

A common application in which an air bearing is specified is scanning. Scanning involves moving either a work-piece or an optic at a constant velocity, while a reading or writing operation takes place. Such operations include printing and image-setting (i.e., writing) and imaging (i.e., reading). While the physical act of writing an image or capturing an image differ by application and industry, all such applications share a common requirement – maintaining a constant velocity. In most applications, the image capture or creation operation takes place at a constant frequency (i.e., frames per second in a camera). As the optic and work-piece move relative to each other, the spatial separation between each frame must be constant in order not to distort or blur the image. This means that the relative velocity between the two must remain constant.