Simple new ultrasonic piezoelectric actuator for precision linear positioning

This paper presents a new linear piezoelectric actuator for linear translation. The positioning stage driven by the actuator has a very simple and compact structure consisting of a linear guide and the linear piezoelectric actuator. The operation principle of the linear piezoelectric actuator is first described. Then, the characteristics of the positioning stage are investigated. Experiments indicate that the step size is adjustable and the minimum is 26 nm with an inertial mass of 100 g in the open-loop condition; the stage motion driven by the actuator is controlled to the target position plus or minus < 1 mu m within 330 ms for a traveling distance of 10 mm in the closed-loop condition.