| Abstract: | Recently, various machines and tools have been miniaturized, and with this trend, the size of an actuator becomes a very important factor. An ultrasonic actuator is different from other actuators using electromagnet force in the driving principle. The structures of an ultrasonic piezoelectric actuator is simple. An ultrasonic actuator converts the ultrasonic mechanical energy to mechanical thrust force by a friction force. Based on this idea, various ultrasonic actuators have been proposed and experimentally constructed. In this paper, the basic characteristics of a piezoelectric actuator are analyzed theoretically. The relationship between the thrust force and the weight force is clarified and verified by experiments. Various prototypes of plane ultrasonic piezoelectric actuators are constructed experimentally, and the fundamental characteristics are measured. |
