A multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic motor using in-plane deformation of planar piezoelectric elements

A novel multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) ultrasonic motor was presented in this paper. The in-plane deformation of planar piezoelectric elements was used to generate the vibrations in the single stator. The working principle was elaborated; an initial prototype was fabricated and tested. The elliptical motion at the tip of the stator was demonstrated by measuring the vibration characteristics. And the load characteristic of the motor was also obtained. The results confirm that the motor successfully provides the desired MDOF motion around orthogonal axes with a single stator using in-plane deformation of planar piezoelectric elements.