Development and analysis of a stick-slip rotary piezoelectric positioner achieving high velocity with compact structure

Abstract A high-velocity rotary stick-slip piezoelectric positioner working in non-resonant condition driven by piezo-stacks is proposed in this paper. For improving working performance through the parasitic motion principle, a compact flexible mechanism with rotational symmetric structure is designed. Its special structure can realize self-centering function, thus there is no need to adopt a bearing for the rotor. And in order to reduce the amounts of needed piezo-stacks and achieve synchronous action of four driving feet, a connecting ring is designed to connect four driving feet. A prototype is manufactured and corresponding experiments are carried out, experimental results show the proposed positioner has a good working performance. Its maximum velocity reaches 151.4 mrad/s, which is greater than most existing non-resonant stick-slip piezoelectric positioners driven by piezo-stacks. And a dynamic model is established and calculated in MATLAB/Simulink, a series of simulation are carried out to further investigate influential factors of the proposed positioner.