Precision positioning and motion control applications have benefited greatly from the use of piezoelectric equipment and motors, since they have some of the most accurate movements down to the nanometer level. In addition, since electricity is applied directly to the transforming material, piezo motors can often be used in magnetic field environments, such as MRI machines, that would be sensitive to other kinds of mechanical equipment. For instance, piezo motors have no trouble operating in a vacuum environment without the typical constraints other motor systems experience. This is a desirable quality, and because of their small size, they can be used in a variety of locations where other solutions may be limited.

In single- and multi-axis configurations, they contain a precise movement that is repeatable and reliable. In addition, small motion levels based on different frequency oscillation can create a small electric current in each motor. The basic purpose of piezo motors is to generate motion based on small deformations of a material when an electrical current is applied. What Is a Piezo Motor?Ī piezo motor is a device that can be used for a variety of precision applications in many different fields. Motors can be designed in a linear or rotary structure that contributes to the overall system goals. Electricity can be applied to this material and the motor can move in extremely precise increments to achieve micrometer- or even nanometer-level resolution changes. These devices rely on piezoelectric materials - such as Berlinite, Barium Titanate, and Lead Zirconate Titanate - to operate in a wide variety of environments. Tension and compression generated a voltage of opposite polarity, and these are able to move in direct proportion to the applied force in order to move the motor. This truly was a revolutionary step in getting technology that worked for everyday applications based on this scientific principle. The basic principle of a piezoelectric connection from motion and mechanical energy to an electric based signal allowed people to transfer their voice into electrical fields for TV, movies, video games and more - all in a short span of time. Later, in 1951, the Japanese were able to expand the boundaries of the motor technology in order to push the TV, radio and communication industries forward. In World War I and II, scientists were able to use the piezoelectric effect in order to create the first underwater submarine detection systems based on these current sensing elements. This research into the piezo principle allowed scientists to discover an entire subset of materials that were previously unknown in their quest for the best piezo elements. This phenomenon was studied in detail during the early 1900s. The piezo effect is the unique ability of certain materials to respond to an electrical charge with motion, as well as generate an electric signal when mechanical stress is applied. While the piezo effect has been studied by scientists for many years, starting back in 1880, creating a motor and industrial product reliable enough for use in different designs has taken many years. The streaming video from out microscope is shown at the bottom right of the screen capture.People are often curious about what a piezoelectric motor is and the best application of these dense ceramic elements in a given application. Another fiber is placed on the other stage, and is used to measure the output light. In my setup, a fiber is placed on one of the stages and aligned to an optical modulator. The modules are: NanoTrak, Piezo, and Motor controls. We also have two NanoTrak modules that let us position four of the axes automatically. Each axis has a motor control for rough positioning, and piezo control for fine tuning. As expected, temp2 is set to 2 once the line has been evaluated by MATLAB.Īt our lab, we have two 6-axis positioning stages. So, you simply pass a dummy value of 0 into the input argument, and read the output from temp1 and temp2. MG17System1.GetNumHWUnits USB_NANOTRAK, lngNumNanoTraks O the Visual Basic Call to the method GetNumHWUnits is: It appears that MATLAB modifies the signature of the ActiveX method so that variables originally passed by reference are included in the output of the function. This code also shows how to use ActiveX controls and MATLAB. This code shows how to control the APT Thorlabs positioning system using the third party ActiveX controls.

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