SBIR-STTR Award

Piezoelectric motors work by including an orbit in the piezoelectric or elastic material At high frequency, this microscopic median is transformed into a microscopic linear or notary motion The novel designs proposed here enable the piezoelectric rrathalto induce much larger ellipses Therefore, these motors will he faster more effective and can he miniaturized The novel piezoelectric motors proposed here will he able to cause modern in two orthogonal directions simultaneously or serially, for example a translation and a rotary motion. In addition they will require less control and power electronics than two separate motors. Therefore they will he a compact lightweight solution to better robotic systems for endoscopy microsurgery, and prosthetic devices. The lightweight, highly efficient motors capable producing motion in orthogonal directions will he superior components for electromechanical systems. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: This work will have application to Robotic positioning devices, precision x-y positioners, micro-positioners, motion control devices, and high torque actuators for transluminal surgery, microsurgery, and prosthetic devices.

The long-term objectives of this work is to make miniaturized motorized devices which can be used as orienters, graspers and in general, tools on the end of endoscopic devices. These devices will allow more medical procedures to be addressed with less invasive endoscopic surgery, enhance the abilities of endoscopic surgeons, and reduce the time to perform endoscopic surgery. Current endoscopic devices operate through mechanical linkages. These piezoelectric ultrasonic motors will allow much higher precision and increased functionality. Piezoelectric ultrasonic motors with their exceptional properties, such as high resolution of displacement control, absence of parasitic magnetic fields (can be used in MRI fields), frictional locking at the power-offstage, and high thrust to weight ratio, make them good candidates for use in precision micromechanical systems. The motors developed here are unique in that they use a combination of shear and flex to produce motion. For most piezoelectric materials, shear is the most active mode, with the largest piezoelectric coefficients and coupling. This efficient use of piezoelectric material allows the motors to be easily miniaturized have high performance. Specifically, they can be miniaturized to smaller sizes than conventional piezoelectric motors, are easier and less costly to manufacture. A unique property of these shear motors is that they can be designed to produce both a rotary motion and a linear or translational motion in a single motor. This allows devices made from them to be smaller yet. These two motions can be combined to make a motorized microwrist with two angular degrees of freedom. The linear motion can push a linkage or pivot to produce a change in the azimuthal angle while the rotary motion produces a circumferencial motion. These devices will increase robotic dexterity, manipulation capabilities, and teachability. They are desirable for many medical and commercial applications. They will be component mechanism technologies supporting transluminal surgery, prosthetic devices, and robotic manipulators.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical automation, biomedical equipment development, surgery material /equipment clinical biomedical equipment, endoscopy, mechanical stress, miniature biomedical equipment, robotics bioengineering /biomedical engineering