SIMULATION OF A LINEAR PIEZOELECTRIC MOTOR BY USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
Humberto Ferreira Vinhais, Escola Politécnica, Ricardo Cury Ibrahim, Emílio Carlos, Nelli Silva · 2003
Piezoelectric materials convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. These materials are widely used for building devices such as sensors, actuators, piezoelectric motors, ultrasonic transducers, etc. A linear piezoelectric motor is considered in this study. It consists of two piezoceramics at 90 degrees connected to an aluminum structure with a complex geometry. The structure vibration generates an elliptical movement at surface points that moves by friction a thin metal bar in the horizontal direction. Due to the complexity of the coupling structure, analytical models cannot be applied to model it. Therefore, in this work, the motor behavior was analyzed by using Finite Element Method (FEM) through ANSYS software. The simulation takes into account piezoelectric effect, structural damping and its electrical driving circuit. Harmonic and transient analyses were conducted which allowed us to obtain a simulation of the mechanical and electrical motor behavior taking into account its electrical driving circuit. Based on these simulation results, it was possible to better understand motor behavior and thus to calculate its optimum excitation frequency, to obtain a better performance. The developed simulation methodology and modeling can be applied to other types of linear piezoelectric motors.