Principle and experimental verification of novel dual driving face rotary ultrasonic motor

Existing rotary ultrasonic motors operating in extreme environments cannot meet the requirements of good environmental adaptability and compact structure at same time, and existing ultrasonic motors with Langevin transducers show better environmental adaptability, but size of these motors are usually big due to the radial arrangement of the Langevin transducers. A novel dual driving face rotary ultrasonic motor is proposed, and its working principle is experimentally verified. The working principle of the novel ultrasonic motor is firstly proposed. The 5th in-plane flexural vibration travelling wave, excited by the Langevin transducers around the stator ring, is used to drive the rotors. Then the finite element method is used in the determination of dimensions of the prototype motor, and the confirmation of its working principle. After that, a laser Doppler vibrometer system is used for measuring the resonance frequency and vibration amplitude of the stator. At last, output characteristics of the prototype motor are measured, environmental adaptability is tested and performance for driving a metal ball is also investigated. At room temperature and 200 V(zero to peak) driving voltage, the motor’s no-load speed is 80 r/min, the stalling torque is 0.35 N·m and the maximum output power is 0.85 W. The response time of this motor is 0.96 ms at the room temperature, and it decreases or increases little in cold environment. A metal ball driven by the motor can rotate at 210 r/min with the driving voltage 300 V(zero to peak). Results indicate that the prototype motor has a large output torque and good environmental adaptability. A rotary ultrasonic motor owning compact structure and good environmental adaptability is proposed, and lays the foundations of ultrasonic motors’ applications in extreme environments.