Self-locking industrial piezo motor drives from Physik Instrumente
03 November 2014
Novel properties of PI's piezo motor drives include self-locking on power-down, compactness, speeds over 100mm/s, sub-micron precision and zero position jitter.
The high velocity and precision of the technology can not only speed up a measurement or production process but can also improve its accuracy. Optical alignment work, battery operated metrology instrumentation and automation machinery are applications where the technology has been widely employed.
A range of different piezo motor technologies are manufactured by PI, including ultrasonic, stick slip and stepping drives. The piezo material used in each design is produced by the PI group ensuring a quality and reliability of supply which is critical for the many industrial users of the technology.
Each technology involves controlled contact between two ceramic surfaces. The wear characteristics of the surface interaction have been assessed and optimised over a number of years of development ensuring that the lifetime for a given duty cycle can be accurately predicted. Where additional testing is required this is done as part of a prototype qualification process.
The drives are available as OEM components (as shown), as an open loop linear or rotary positioner or as a closed loop system including encoder feedback, controller and software. Although a range of standard products are available most industrial applications require a level of customisation. Custom designs are facilitated by the engineering team of the company at PI’s headquarters in Karlsruhe, Germany
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