Development of a two-degree-of-freedom piezoelectric rotary-linear actuator with high driving force and unlimited linear movement

Piezoelectric actuators are considered as standard structural elements in Microsystems Technology. A piezoelectric transducer conventionally works as a pure linear motor (piezotranslator). If a rotation is required from the piezoelectric transducer, a transmission mechanism must be designed. This article presents a study on the development of a novel two-degree-of-freedom piezoelectric rotary-linear actuator system, including (1) conceptual design, (2) dynamic modeling, (3) control, and (4) prototype. The experimental validation of these concepts was performed. The preliminary result of the experiment has shown that the proposed concept works very well; in particular, the system has achieved (1) the linear displacement resolutions: 26 nm, (2) the angular displacement resolution: 0.019 degrees, (3) the maximum driving force: 2.09 N, and (4) the maximum driving torque: 12.20 N mm. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.