A novel sandwich-type traveling wave piezoelectric tracked mobile system

Abstract

In this paper, a novel sandwich-type traveling wave piezoelectric tracked mobile system was proposed, designed, fabricated and experimentally investigated. The proposed system exhibits the advantages of simple structure, high mechanical integration, lack of electromagnetic interference, and lack of lubrication requirement, and hence shows potential application to robotic rovers for planetary exploration. The tracked mobile system is comprised of a sandwich actuating mechanism and a metal track. The actuating mechanism includes a sandwich piezoelectric transducer and two annular parts symmetrically placed at either end of the transducer, while the metal track is tensioned along the outer surfaces of the annular parts. Traveling waves with the same rotational direction are generated in the two annular parts, producing the microscopic elliptical motions of the surface particles on the annular parts. In this situation, if the pre-load is applied properly, the metal track can be driven by friction force to achieve bidirectional movement. At first, the finite element method was adopted to conduct the modal analysis and harmonic response analysis of the actuating mechanism, and the vibration characteristics were measured to confirm the operating principle. Then the optimal driving frequency of the system prototype, namely 35.1kHz, was measured by frequency sensitivity experiments. At last, the mechanical motion characteristics of the prototype were investigated experimentally. The results show that the average motion speeds of the prototype in dual directions were as 72mm/s and 61.5mm/s under the excitation voltage of 500V, respectively. The optimal loading weights of the prototype in bi-directions were 0.32kg and 0.24kg with a maximum speed of 59.5mm/s and 61.67mm/s at the driving voltage of 300V, respectively.

A Novel Traveling Wave Sandwich Piezoelectric Transducer With Single Phase Drive: Theoretical Modeling , Experimental Validation and Application Investigation

“…A novel traveling wave sandwich piezoelectric transducer with single phase excitation was proposed, theoretically analysed, experimentally validated and investigated in this study. Using the structural coupling property between the sandwich composite beam and driving rings, the proposed piezoelectric transducer can produce traveling waves in the driving rings under a single-phase excitation signal, greatly simplifying the control system compared to the piezoelectric transducers with two phase different excitation signals [29,30].…”

“…To verify the driving effect of the proposed traveling wave sandwich piezoelectric transducer, an application example is presented in this section. In our previous work [29,30], tracked mobile systems driven by traveling wave piezoelectric transducers with two phases excitation signals have been investigated. A metal track is adopted as the rotor to be driven by a piezoelectric transducer via friction.…”

“…The maximum mean velocity and loading weight of the tracked mobile system driven by a surface-bonded type piezoelectric transducer with four driving rings [29] are 57 mm/s under two excitation voltages of 460 VRMS and 240 g under two excitation voltages of 460 VRMS, respectively. The tracked mobile system driven by a sandwich piezoelectric transducer with two driving rings [30] achieved a maximum mean velocity of 72 mm/s under two excitation voltages of 500 VRMS and a maximum loading weight of 1440 g two excitation voltages of 300 VRMS. Although the maximum mean velocity of the proposed tracked mobile system is a little lower than the aforementioned two tracked mobile systems, it only required a single-phase excitation voltage, simplifying the control system.…”

A Novel Self-Moving Framed Piezoelectric Actuator

“…In 2017, Hariri et al developed a piezoelectric miniature legged robot driven by standing wave [24]. At the same time, Wang et al proposed a sandwiched piezoelectric actuator with two driving rings to directly drive track by producing traveling wave in the driving rings for planetary exploration [25]. In 2018, Wang et al developed a wheeled mobile system driven by a three-dimensional sandwich standing wave piezoelectric actuator for lunar rover [13].…”

Working Mechanism of Nonresonance Friction in Driving Linear Piezoelectric Motors with Rigid Shaking Beam

“…Piezoelectric actuators are characterized by high efficiency, high positioning accuracy, fast response, and good stability [1][2][3]; these devices are effective precision actuation technologies for precision instruments [4,5], guidance technology [6], biomedicine [7], and high-technology fields [8,9]. Resonance-type linear piezoelectric motors include a type of linear motor based on "shaking beam" principle.…”