A hybrid inchworm linear motor

A hybrid linear motor that produces precise resolution with long travelling distance under inchworm motion principle is developed. The motor consists of one push and two clamping devices. The clamping device is innovated using multistack piezoelectric actuators with displacement amplifier since the displacement generated from multistack actuator is not enough for clamping. To secure the large push load and displacement, Terfenol-D magnetostrictive material is used for the push device. Design process of the push and clamping devices is conducted to meet the performance of the motor. The clamping and push devices are assembled and a control sequence is applied. The performance of the inchworm motor is tested in terms of speed and force. The moving speed is increasing when the input frequency and current are increased. To make (lie performance stable, time tuning between the push and clamping devices signals is necessary. Some remarks on improving the performance of the motor are addressed, (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.