Bidirectional motion of a planar fabricated piezoelectric motor based on unimorph arms

A fabrication methodology for piezoelectric motors based on multiple unimorph arms at the mesoscale is proposed. The combination of laser micromachining and lamination steps allows for a stator with a diameter of 9 mm and a thickness of 0.267 mm to be batch manufactured. This design is investigated via a finite element analysis where it is shown that the contact condition between the stator unimorph arms and rotor is dependent on the input drive frequency. The fabricated stator is then characterized experimentally where it is shown that a shift in the sinusoidal drive frequency from 3220 Hz to 3900 Hz results in a change to the rotational direction of the rotor from the positive to the negative direction. The torque of the motor is evaluated numerically to demonstrate the performance of the mesoscale piezoelectric motor in both rotational directions.