Experimental design and construction of a flextensional ultrasonic piezoelectric micro-motor

This paper presents the experimental design and construction of a new type of standing wave piezoelectric ultrasonic micro-motor. The motor, which is based on a meso-scale prototype [1-3], uses a metallic cymbal to convert the contour mode vibrations of a piezoelectric plate into vertical oscillations. These are further converted by means of an elastic-fin friction drive to produce rotary actuation. The motor operates on a single-phase electrical supply and direct control of the output speed and torque can be achieved by adjusting the amplitude and frequency of the supply voltage.