Piezo Motors – Mechanical Integration is Key
Low cost piezo motor drives work on an ultrasonic basis converting small vibrations into linear or rotary motion. The small piezo element is coupled to a friction bar using a preloaded assembly that ensures self- locking when powered down and no positional jitter when running in closed loop.
This benefits the user by both reducing power consumption and limiting the risk of damage to any mounted part. The size of the motor allows integration into the body of a positioning stage so minimising the footprint and providing a significant space saving when compared to other technologies.
The reliable and low audible noise operation of a piezo motor driven stage requires careful matching of materials, the appropriate application of damping and a comprehensive understanding of friction and wear characteristics. Where micron scale precision is needed interaction of the motor with the stage guiding, the influence of stage mounting and the appropriate selection of encoding must also be considered.
Piezo motor stage and actuator designs from PI are used extensively in light based applications where a sample or optical component requires adjustment. Although the technology is capable of a precision of 0.1µm many applications use a piezo motor simply because of the size and low power consumption it provides. In every case however, reliability is key and this is achieved by PI using the experience and knowledge gained over many years of working with the technology.
