Automation Components Based on the Inverse Piezoelectric Effect

The article examines the application of piezoelectric motors operating on the principle of the inverse piezoelectric effect in advanced automation and precision engineering systems, with particular emphasis on their use as precision miniature stepper motors.
As requirements for higher accuracy, lower motor weight, and reduced overall dimensions become increasingly stringent, the integrated use of specialized composite materials as the primary materials for motor components and structures is becoming an important direction in the development of such motors.
Testing of these types of piezoelectric motors and attempts to use them as stepper motors have raised a number of technical issues. These are largely related to the incompatibility between modern control processors and their software functions and the design limitations resulting from the use of conventional structural materials that performed well with earlier generations of components.
The mechanical transmission chain extends from the plain bearing to the piezoceramic ring, then through the spring-steel fingers soldered to the ring, to the friction ring and, finally, to the motor rotor. Design limitations in this chain have shown that the principal cause of the wide variation in motor output parameters is the insensitivity of its components to changes and fluctuations in control and monitoring pulses.
Analytical studies have shown that the main problem is the system’s inability to distribute or dissipate the pulses applied to the piezoelectric ring virtually instantaneously. As the first step in optimization, it was decided to replace the conventional piezoceramic material of the piezoelectric ring with a piezoceramic composite containing components that do not respond to the pulses applied to the ring. Previous practical experience has shown that this can be achieved by uniformly incorporating synthetic diamond microspheres into the piezoceramic material.