Improvement of a rectangle-shape linear piezoelectric motor with four driving feet

Abstract To increase the mechanical output ability of a rectangle-shape linear piezoelectric motor with four feet, an improved motor is designed in this study. The improved motor inherits the basic structure of the previous one, but the structure dimensions are adjusted by widening the horizontal beam, shortening the length of the vertical beam׳s uniform part, increasing the length of the vertical horn, and changing the widths of the horns׳ tips. Modal analysis and transient analysis are developed to gain the vibration modes of the motor and the motion trajectories of the driving feet, respectively. After the fabrication of a prototype, its vibration characteristics and mechanical output ability are measured. Experiment results show that a maximum no-load speed of 621 mm/s, a maximum thrust force of 11 N, and a maximum power of 1.9 W are achieved by the prototype. Comparison between the improved motor and the previous one verifies that this study accomplish the design intention of mechanical output ability improvement perfectly.