(麻豆淫院Org.com) -- Microactuators are critical components for industrial applications such as MEMS, micro-medical devices, and microrobotics. However, the fabrication of increasingly sophisticated, millimeter sized microactuators is complicated and proving to be a challenge.

Here, in an innovative approach, Tomoaki Mashimo has fabricated a miniature rotary-linear piezoelectric with a single cubic stator with a side length of only 3.5 mm, which is capable of generating both rotary motion around its central axis and linear motion in the axial direction.

The stator consisted of a single metallic cube with a side length 3.5 mm, a 2.5-mm-diameter through-hole, and four piezoelectric elements bonded to the sides of the stator. The simplicity of the design enabled the fabrication of a compact actuator, without requiring any special manufacturing procedures.

The resultant rotary and linear velocities obtained were approximately 24 rad/s and 80 mm/s, when the applied voltage was 42 Vrms at each . The maximum torque and thrust force were 2.5 渭Nm and 2.6 mN, respectively.

Mashimo expects further miniaturization and improvement in the performance of this compact actuator. 鈥淲e foresee micro-robotic and medical applications using the rotary-linear piezoelectric microactuator,鈥 says Mashimo. 鈥淭he microactuator simple design lends itself to many other applications as well.鈥

More information: Tomoaki Mashimo, and Shigeki Toyama, 鈥楻otary-Linear Piezoelectric Actuator with a Cubic Stator of Side Length of 3.5 mm鈥, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 57, pp. 1825鈥1830, (2010).

Provided by Toyohashi University of Technology