Effect of the Rotor/Stator Interface Condition Including Contact Type, Geometry, and Material on the Performance of Ultrasonic Motor

The purpose of this paper is to show the dynamic contact characteristics and the motor performance of several types of ultrasonic motors. First, we compare the performance of “intermittent” and “traveling” contact type ultrasonic motors by using the locally deforming rotor model. We show that the motor performances are the same when the shape of the stator’s amplitude, and the rotor’s interpenetration are the same. Then, we show that the performance of these two types of motors are different according to the effects of inertia and actual three dimensional displacement by using the FE (finite element) analysis. Finally, the effects of the teeth and a surface layer at the contact interface on the performance of the ultrasonic motor, including T-N (torque-speed) characteristics and friction loss, are analyzed.