This paper presents the design of inchworm motor for high precision actuator system of large-displacement and high-force. The inchworm motor can realize the long stroke with high load capacity and resolution by clamping and extending sequences of the ...
This paper presents the design of inchworm motor for high precision actuator system of large-displacement and high-force. The inchworm motor can realize the long stroke with high load capacity and resolution by clamping and extending sequences of the PZT. It can attain high resolution and high force from the accurate displacement of extension and contraction motion. The proposed inchworm actuator consists of two clamping parts on the top and the bottom side of the inchworm body, and one extension part in the middle of the actuator. The two clamping PZT are provide the holding force and the extending PZT is provide the displacement of tool guide. In generally, PZT has the low tensile strength and shear. Therefore, design of the inchworm motor has been focused on optimizing the pre-load housing mechanism to reduce the shear force. The preload also creates additional return forces to aid in the release of the clamping mechanisms. The detailed design of the pre-load mechanism was performed using finite element analysis. A prototypeof the inchworm motor was fabricated and tested with respect to the variations of the serial and parallel connection of the PZTs.