In this paper, an analytical model of a V-shape piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer is presented. The V-shape piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer has been widely applied to the piezoelectric actuator (ultrasonic motor), ultrasonic aided fabrication, sensor, and energy harvesting device. The V-shape piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer consists of two Langevin-type transducers connected together through a coupling point with a certain coupling angle. Considering the longitudinal and lateral movements of a single beam, the symmetrical and asymmetrical modals of the V-shape piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer are calculated. By using Hamilton–Lagrange equations, the electromechanical coupling model of the V-shape piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer is proposed. The influence of the coupling angle and cross-section on modal characteristics and electromechanical coupling coefficient are analyzed by the analytical model. A prototype of the V-shape piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer is fabricated, and the results of the experiments are in good agreement with the analytical model.

Variable apertures have become very important in optical applications. This paper presents a new type of piezoelectric actuator with a screw-coupled stator and rotor that is developed to operate an aperture. The actuator and the aperture are integrated to control the luminous flux. To open or close, the aperture only needs to rotate through a limited angle. Therefore, the actuator is designed so that the rotor and the stator are simply connected by a screw to couple the axial preload and the circumferential movement. The torque and velocity of the actuator are produced by its circumferential motion. The preload of the actuator is applied by deforming the rotor along the axial direction. This method of preloading makes it difficult to keep the preload constant during the actuator’s work. To overcome this problem, a novel flexible rotor with a low stiffness is designed. An equivalent stiffness model of the rotor is presented for the design of a flexible rotor. Its design parameters are determined by a numerical model and confirmed using the finite element method. A prototype is fabricated to drive the aperture. The experimental results demonstrate a resolution of 20 μ rad and a rotational range of 300°. The opening and closing durations of the aperture are 96 ms and 97.2 ms, respectively, for a rotation range of 90°. The rotation angle of the actuator is linearly related to time, which shows that its performance is controlled well. The novel screw-coupled piezoelectric actuator for driving an aperture features high resolution, high speed, simple structure and compact size.

This work presents a laminated piezoelectric (PZT) motor to achieve high force density, high strength, and compact structure. The oscillator consists of vibration units and a driving foot. Each of the vibration units is formed by symmetrically bonding two PZT ceramics on a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) layer to improve its strength. The oscillator works in hybrid mode of the first longitudinal vibration ( L 1) and second bending vibration ( B 2). The finite-element method is adopted to tune the resonance frequencies of the two modes, and the vibration characteristics are experimentally analyzed. The strength test shows that the presence of the CFRP layer can increase the overall strength of the oscillator by 28% compared with a pure PZT motor. To evaluate the performance, the load characteristics of the fabricated prototype (with a size of 39 × 10 × 4.6 mm ³ and weight of 10.6 g) are tested on a designed testbed. The single-phase driving method is used to drive the motor, and the best performance is obtained at the B 2-mode frequency. The maximum thrust force, no-load speed, and output power reach 17 N, 335 mm s ⁻¹ , and 775 mW, respectively, at a drive voltage of 100 Vp. Meanwhile, a thrust density of 1604 N kg ⁻¹ and an output power density of 73.11 W kg ⁻¹ are achieved. The thrust density is much higher than that of the other motors that operate in the same modes.