Development of a Nonresonant Piezoelectric Motor With Nanometer Resolution Driving Ability

A nonresonant-type piezoelectric motor with a precise driving ability was proposed. The operating principle of the proposed motor is different from the previous nonresonant piezoelectric motors using either the clamping and feeding mechanism (inchworm mechanism) or the inertia drive mechanism. An oblique linear motion formed by the hybrid of two bending motions of a sandwich transducer was used to push the runner step-by-step. Two square-wave voltages were applied to the horizontal and vertical PZT elements to obtain the desired oblique linear motion. The mechanism of the proposed piezoelectric motor was illustrated in detail. Then, transient analyses were performed by ANSYS software to simulate the motion trajectory and to find the response characteristics of the motor. Finally, a prototype was fabricated to verify the mechanism and to test the mechanical output characteristics of the proposed motor. Under the input square-wave voltages of 500 Vp-p, the prototype achieved a step displacement of 5.96 μm, a maximum no-load velocity of 59.64 μm/s, and a maximum thrust of 30 N. This paper provides a new mechanism for the design of a nonresonant piezoelectric motor with long stroke and precise driving ability.