Piezoelectric Motors: Big Power, Small Package
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PIEZOMOTORS Big power for small stuff Also in this issue: µ Push to commercialize microneedles µ Diamond turning tools µ Measuring microscale parts µ Ultrafast-pulse lasers µ Metal/ceramic-injection molding µ Holding onto microparts µ Fab Update, About Tooling, EDM Notes, Tech News, Products/Services www.micromanufacturing.com Columns Columns COLUMNS On the Web 4 Front Page μTube: Video for the micro industry Don Nelson, Publisher On the bridge to manufactur- Whether you wish to view video for the micromanufacturing ing’s future. industry or submit a micromanufacturing video of your own, µTube is for you. The newest facet of the MICROmanufacturing 8 EDM Notes Web site, µTube offers an opportunity to do both. With nearly a dozen video reports already available on demand, you can add John W. Bradford, to the video archive by contacting Dennis Spaeth via e-mail at Makino Inc. [email protected]. Low-viscosity dielectric oils improve microEDMing. The latest μTube videos feature: 12 About Tooling µ The Helicheck measuring machine from Walter, Fredericksburg, Alan Rooks, Va., measures parts down to 0.1 mm (0.004") in diameter. Editorial Director µ Slater Tools Inc. is expanding its product line of Swiss-style ad- Finer-grain carbides are justment-free, rotary broaching toolholders. Swiss-style tools are needed for microtools. used in the aerospace and medical industries to make orthopedic bone screws and small fastener products. & 15 FAB Update Susan Woods, Contributing Editor Departments PolyStrata process produces micron-accurate structures. 17 Micromachining Gary Zurek, Kern Precision Inc. The basics of building a micro- milling strategy. 52 Last Word Kanwar J. Singh, Rockford Engineering Associates Limitations of today’s micro- machine tools. DEPARTMENTS 5 Tech News 48 Products/Services 50 Research Roundup 52 Advertisers Index ON THE COVER Design by Tom Wright. Shown is a piezoelectric, SQL-series Squiggle motor manufactured by New Scale Technologies, Victor, N.Y. MICROmanufacturing | WINTER 2008 | 1 Power Packed Cover Story Piezoelectric motors: big power, small package By Bill Kennedy, Contributing Editor New Scale Technologies This Squiggle piezoelectric linear motor measures 1.55mm × 1.55mm × 6mm. motor transforms energy into mechani- firm Innovative Research and Products Inc., A cal motion. The piezoelectric effect, an Stamford, Conn. Life science and medical energy-transformation phenomenon first ob- technology demand for piezoelectric-oper- served more than a century ago, is now the ated actuators and motors is expected to grow basis for extremely compact and precise motive about 19 percent annually during this period power. A discovery in 1880 by French brothers and could record an even higher growth rate Jacques and Pierre Curie formed the founda- as acceptance of the technology spreads. tion for piezoelectric power technology. The That growth will be fueled by all-new ap- two physicists learned that a class of crystalline plications requiring mechanical motion on a minerals became electrically polarized when small scale that can be fulfilled only through subjected to a mechanical force. the singular characteristics and capabilities of This “piezoelectric” effect (piezo being piezoelectric motors. Greek for push, or squeeze) is employed today in a variety of devices, including tire pressure A piezo primer sensors and lighters for gas grills. Relevant to Most piezoelectric motors employ ceramic generating motion, the piezoelectric effect also materials manufactured from lead-zirconate works in reverse. So, applying an electrical titanate (Pb, Zr and Ti, abbreviated PZT). charge to a piezo material causes it to change As in the manufacture of other ceramics, the size, albeit on a tiny scale but with unwaver- metal oxide powders are mixed with an or- ing reliability and repeatability. This inverse ganic binder, shaped as desired and fired. Then, piezoelectric effect is put to use in buzzers, much like a ferrous material is magnetized, speakers, actuators and motors. the ceramic parts are polarized via exposure Piezoelectric motors offer simplicity and to electric fields. small size, and can generate relatively high After polarization, if a voltage of the same forces. As a result, the global market for piezo- polarity and direction as the poling voltage is electric-operated actuators and motors will applied to the ceramic part, it will grow lon- grow to $10.7 billion by the year 2011 at an ger (while shrinking in width), parallel to the average annual growth rate of more than 15 lines of polarization. If a voltage of polarity percent, according to the market research opposite that of the poling voltage is applied, MICROmanufacturing | WINTER 2008 | 23 Power Packed continued Then an increasing staircase voltage rial metal/ceramic actuators, or “legs,” the part will become shorter and wider. is applied to the center element, caus- cosintered to a single body. When volt- If an alternating voltage is applied, the ing it to change length in discrete steps age is applied to a leg, the PZT ceramic element will lengthen and shorten at the and move the shaft forward. When the element changes size and causes the leg frequency of the applied voltage. voltage to the center element peaks, a to bend. The movement of pairs of legs The changes in size are small but con- voltage is applied to the third element, is synchronized, enabling them to “walk” sistent. According to Dan Viggiano III, causing it to grip the shaft. Then the forward or backward. director of the custom products divi- voltage is removed from the first ele- Steps typically are no larger than a few sion of piezoelectric motor maker New ment and it releases the shaft. The volt- microns, and can be as small as a sin- Scale Technologies Inc., Victor, N.Y., age on the center element then begins to gle nanometer. By taking several thou- piezoelectric material like that used step down, again moving the shaft for- sand steps per second, a Piezo LEGS in New Scale’s Squiggle motor has a ward until it reaches its lower limit. At motor can reach traveling speeds of maximum typical strain of 0.1 per- that point the first element is activated several centimeters per second. Typi- cent. “When the maximum voltage is again, the third element is released and cally, a 22mm × 11mm × 18mm Piezo applied, the material will have a maxi- the voltage on the center element begins LEGS motor weighs 30g and has a maxi- mum change in length or thickness of to step up again. mum step length of 3μm, with resolu- 0.1 percent, depending on the direction The sequence can be repeated any tion as precise as 1nm. It can produce of polarity,” he said. “As an example, with number of times, and total travel is a maximum speed of 15 mm/sec. and a maximum voltage applied to a 1mm- limited only by the length of the shaft. a stall force of 10 N while consuming thick piezoelectric plate, the 5 mW/Hz. plate thickness will change by PiezoMotor marketing di- 0.001mm, or 1 micrometer.” rector Peo Sollerud said the Lower voltages produce cor- Period Duty cycle Voltage functional properties and per- respondingly less change; the ground formance of Piezo LEGS are relationship is generally lin- easily adapted to different ap- ear, with some hysteresis (lag plications. Typical examples in response) when approach- include precision positioning ing zero or maximum voltage. of components in instrumen- Motors can be classified into tation and manufacturing. two basic groups: those that Sollerud said the technology provide motion in discrete Phase can provide rotary motion steps and operate below the Voltage Node as well as linear movement. Time resonant frequency of their Node “The principle is quite simple piezoelectric actuators, and and very much like the linear those that exploit ultrasonic Piezo LEGS, only that instead Opposing d31PZT amplification via the principle strain bends nut of ‘walking’ on a straight rod, of resonance to effect continu- the rotating motor walks on a New Scale Technologies ous movement. Alternating the voltage between pairs of plates in a Squiggle disk,” he said. The Piezo LEGS Early examples of piezoelec- piezoelectric motor produces a wobbling or orbiting motion. motor is available in different tric motors that operate in a versions, including models for discrete stepping mode are the clamp- Full extension of the shaft in the center vacuum and nonmagnetic applications and-release motors introduced in the element of a typical Inchworm motor as well as different sizes that provide mid-1970s by precision measurement moves the shaft about 2μm. The mo- from one to several hundred Newtons and positioning equipment provider tors offer positioning resolution of 0.1 of pulling force. Burleigh Instruments Inc. (Acquired nm. EXFO says its Inchworm motors in 2000 by EXFO Electro-Optical En- are now being used in advanced re- Good vibrations gineering Inc., Quebec City, Quebec.) search and manufacturing projects A parallel development to discrete- The motors were developed for optical such as NASA’s next-generation space step piezoelectric motors takes ad- components. The company named the telescope. vantage of the general principle of devices “Inchworm” motors because resonance. That principle states that their mode of operation resembles an A leg up when a periodic vibration is applied to inchworm on the move. As its name implies, the Piezo LEGS an elastic system, the system will re- Inchworm motors consist of three motor, from PiezoMotor Uppsala (Swe- spond with an amplitude of vibration PZT elements: two configured to clamp den) AB, and distributed in the U.S. by that grows as the applied frequencies a shaft and a third located between them MicroMo Electronics Inc., Clearwater, approach the natural frequencies of the that determines the spacing between Fla., also generates motion in discrete resonating element. The composition the clamps.