Novel method for driving the ultrasonic motor

This paper reports a novel driving method for an annular plate-type ultrasonic motor. Instead of the direct current/alternating current (DC/AC) converter type driver using a conventional electromagnetic transformer, a compact disc-type piezoelectric transformer is used to obtain a high voltage output for driving the ultrasonic motor. The piezoelectric transformer is operated in the radial vibration mode at resonance frequency close to the resonance frequency of the ultrasonic motor. Later, it was found that the piezoelectric transformer could drive the ultrasonic motor, even if their resonance frequencies are not exactly the same by incorporating a matching network in the circuit. The maximum speed of the ultrasonic motor obtained by using this driving method is over 300 rpm. It is believed that the results of this study will have impact on the integration and miniaturization of the ultrasonic motor and its driving circuit.