Traveling wave ultrasonic motor: coupling effects in free stator

Generally a stator of traveling wave ultrasonic motor (TWUM) consists of piezoelectric transducers (annular plate or rods) coupled by the way of a metallic ring. These transducers divided into halves are excited independently by two electrical signals with different phases of about 90 degrees. So an elastic traveling wave propagates along the circumference of the ring and a rotor pressed on this vibrating surface is then driven by the stator via contact forces. Many difficulties appear in developing TWUM because the contact between the stator and the rotor via a frictional material is very important. However that may be, the first stage consists in obtaining a vibrating stator with optimum characteristics with two symmetrical phases. The aim of this paper is to discuss some coupling effects in a free stator through an enhanced equivalent circuit model. A simple experimental method based on impedance measurements is performed to estimate the coupling characteristics at a low driving voltage. This paper reports results obtained with the free stator of the well known piezoelectric ultrasonic motor "USR60" by Shinsei Co. Ltd. Since the stator behaves as an elastic body, interactions between the two electrical inputs might be described by the introduction of a coupling oscillator. The comparison of experimental and theoretical results leads to validate the new equivalent circuit of the free stator. The presence of coupling impedance could imply a change of electrical supply condition to optimize the TWUM efficiency. The effects of unbalanced features for each electrical input and the applicability of the proposed model to actual operating condition are discussed in the paper.