Inherent Loss Analysis of Piezoelectrics in Radial Vibration and its Application in Ultrasonic Motor

High-efficiency energy conversion, primarily limited by internal losses of piezoelectric materials, is an important target for piezoelectric actuators or sensors. There are three internal losses in piezoelectric materials: dielectric, elastic, and piezoelectric. In this article, a new equivalent circuit of a piezoelectric ring in radial vibration mode is proposed considering three types of fundamental losses. First, the decoupled equivalent circuit with inherent losses is derived based on the conventional electromechanical equivalent circuit. In order to verify the feasibility of the new circuit, an ultrasonic motor operating in radial vibration mode is explored and simulated. The resonance and antiresonance frequencies and their corresponding mechanical quality factors are obtained from the new circuits and then compared with those of an actual stator sample. The simulation results match well with the experimental measurements of the stator. Finally, a prototype is fabricated due to the simulation results and a maximum torque of 270 mNm is acquired.