Inertial Piezoelectric Micro Rotary Actuator

A newly inertial piezoelectric rotary actuator is proposed based on controlling the orderly changes of friction force between the rotator and supporting faces in mechanical way. The dynamic simulation model of the actuator is derived. A prototype small inertial rotary actuator characterized by two symmetric piezoelectric stacks has been fabricated based on the proposed method. The actuator can rotate when it is powered with a square-wave or sine-wave voltage. The experimental and simulation results show that its angular speed is proportional to both the driving voltage’s amplitude and the frequency. The experimental results also show good agreement with the simulation analysis.