Frequency characteristics of non-contact ultrasonic motor with motion error correction

The purpose of this research is to achieve real time motion error correction of the rotor in a non-contact ultrasonic motor (non-contact USM). The rotor is installed in a cylindrical stator with a small gap and designed so that it has a resonant frequency of 22.2 kHz, the 8th flexural mode of vibration. The multi-layered piezoelectric actuators excite the flexural wave traveling in the circumference direction. The ultrasonic vibration produces a sound field that levitates the rotor, and the traveling wave induces a near-boundary streaming to rotate the rotor by viscous force. In this paper, we describe an experimental test of the performance of a non-contact USM. When the flexural vibration amplitude was 0.3 μm, the rotational speed was 4 rpm. The rotational speed and starting torque was proportional to the vibration amplitude. The starting performance to attain rotational speed had a time constant of 2 s for several different amplitudes hence the rotational torque is independent of the rotational speed and the resistance force on the rotor is governed by viscosity. In addition, the non-contact USM has the capability of contact-free micro positioning of the rotor by controlling the deformation of the piezoelectric actuators. The PI controller was constructed to correct the detected motion error of the rotor in the radial direction. As a consequence, a motion error of 0.8 μm for one rotor revolution was reduced to 0.1 μm.