Development of a novel miniature shaftless rotational motor using Iron-gallium Alloy

Miniature motors have attracted much attention in recent decades . In the design of miniature motors, geometry and assembly simplicity of the drive mechanism is critical . Among various drive mechanisms, the impact drive mechanism (IDM) has such simplicity that compromises the inertia force and the friction force to achieve a stick-slip motion, and thus has great potential for applications in miniature motors . Most existing IDM motors [1,2] use piezoelectric material for the driving element, but suffer from the brittle nature of piezoelectric material and the high driving voltage . In recently years, Galfenol (Iron-gallium Alloy) has arouse interest for IDM motors .