Study on ultrasonic/sonic driller/corer for deep space exploration

A novel Ultrasonic/sonic Driller/Corer (USDC) has been developed for deep space exploration. This low axial load is required and few impact forces are produced for the USDC to sample rocks, which results in the important advantage of low energy dissipation. Based on inverse piezoelectric effect, the ultrasonic vibration is induced for the transducer of the USDC. The ultrasonic/sonic vibration energy conversion and coupling exists between the ultrasonic transducer and drill stem through the smart design of free mass. In this way the drill stem with the considerable sonic frequency can sample the rocks. In this paper the finite element model of the USDC is built and the dynamic analysis is conducted. The prototype is manufactured and the experimental results show that the USDC can dig into the rocks without extra axial forces.