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Inertial & Inchworm piezoelectric motors: Design and Motorization selection key aspects
14 June 2024
Piezoelectric motors have gained increasing prominence in various applications due to their unique capabilities and advantages. These motors are adapted for applications which require non-magnetic and radiation compatibility, high force/volume ratio, good unpowered stall force and low power consumption. Cedrat Technologies (CTEC) have developed inertial and inchworm motorization for a wide range of application such as Space, Defense and Nuclear. Each motorization solution has its own advantages and disadvantages which are discussed in this paper. Key aspect for the design and key element for the motorization selection are presented below.
Thermal vacuum behaviour of a stepping piezo actuator
19 June 2023
The presented work illustrates the design of a new high force Stepping Piezoelectric Actuator (SPA) and describes its Thermal Vacuum testing as performed by ESTL, in order to investigate SPA compatibility with vacuum environment within a wide temperatures range; from +60°C down to -180°C. A dedicated test bench was designed, in order to check motor force and speed for all performed tests. Instrumentation, testing and observations about tribological behaviour of friction interface have been realized by ESTL, showing interesting perspectives.
Ultrasonic Piezo Drive UPD for direct drive motorization
19 June 2023
Existing piezo motors such as travelling wave motors present several technical limitations, they are not useable for linear drive, they cannot be easily adapted to specific rotational needs and the development of customised solution is expensive. The proposed Ultrasonic Piezo Drive (UPD) aims at overcoming these limitations. It is a shell-based stator using multilayered piezoceramics in d33 mode. Excited at only 1-10V, it produces an ultrasonic elliptical vibration large enough to direct drive any type of second body by friction. Tangential driving properties of UPD20 are typically in the range of 100-200mm/s max speed and 15-30N max force.
Voice coil actuators for two MTG instruments
19 June 2023
While Cedrat Technologies has been active in space for more than 20 years with piezoelectric mechanisms, we have also been increasingly involved over the last few years in the development of magnetic actuators for space projects. In this paper, a focus is made on the case of magnetic actuators that are developed in the frame of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) project. The first one is the Scan Assembly (SCA) actuated by Rotating Voice Coil Motors (RVCM) for the East/West (E/W) axes and the North/South (N/S) axes developed in collaboration with Sener and the second one is the Voice Coil Motor (VCM) developed in collaboration with CSEM for the Corner Cube Mechanism (CCM)
Rotating piezoelectric motors for high precision positioning & space applications
19 June 2023
Piezo-electric motors have been successfully developed for various applications like autofocus drives in camera lenses and handling equipment for semiconductor production. Their high speed and accurate positioning capability, combined with a favourable holding torque in unpowered condition, make piezomotors also very attractive for actuation purposes in spacecraft mechanisms. The paper introduces a new concept of a versatile ultrasonic piezomotor. The testing campaign carried out on the designed rotating piezomotor has validated the vacuum compatibility and the lifetime of the motor in air.
Rotating step by step piezomotor for nanopositioning and space applications
19 June 2023
Piezomotors are well known in various applications where high precision actuation is required like AFM or handling equipment for semiconductor production. Their specific low speed in direct drive and high torque characteristics combined with high holding torque in off power conditions make them very attractive for any positioning application and especially space mechanisms where low electrical consumption is always sought. A new concept of rotating stepping piezomotor has been developed in the frame of the LISA space project where the mechanism of the telescope orientation was addressed.
