A novel piezo-driven linear-rotary inchworm actuator

This paper presents a novel piezo-driven linear-rotary inchworm actuator with a large motion range and high resolution. Such an actuator will be indispensable in precision positioning. The proposed actuator consists of four flexure modules driven by four piezoelectric actuators, namely, two clamping modules to alternately hold the actuator shaft, one linear driving module and one rotary driving module to provide the driving force and torque, respectively. Its mechanical performance is analyzed in detail and the working principle is also described. A prototype of the linear-rotary actuator is fabricated, with which a series of experiments are carried out. The experimental results show that the actuator can achieve high resolution of 0.049 mu m and 103 mu rad, the maximum velocities of 1450 mu m/s and 34,270 mu rad/s, and the maximum output force of 11.8 N and maximum output torque of 73.5 N mm for the linear and rotary motions, respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.