Examination of Disk-Type Multidegree-of-Freedom Ultrasonic Motor

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 43; no. 5S; p. 2884
• Main Authors: Aoyagi, Manabu, Nakajima, Toshinori, Tomikawa, Yoshiro, Takano, Takehiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2004
• ISSN: 0021-4922; 1347-4065
• DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.43.2884

A multidegree-of-freedom (MDOF) ultrasonic motor using the multimode of a disk vibrator is realized. A spherical rotor can rotate around arbitrary axes. However, at the beginning of research on the MDOF ultrasonic motor, the MDOF ultrasonic motor did not have any mechanisms for supporting a spherical rotor. Since the preload was given by only the rotor's own weight, the friction between the rotor and the stator vibrator was very small, but the torque characteristics of the MDOF motor were insufficient for practical use. The purpose of this study is to improve the motor performance further. In this paper, some support and preload mechanisms using a support plate were examined for the improvement of the motor performance. In addition to these methods, a sandwich structure in which two stator vibrators hold a spherical rotor is proposed. This structure has both a rotor support mechanism and a preload mechanism, and high torque by the torque composition of two stator vibrators can be obtained.