INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES

Smart Mater. Struct. 13 (2004) N1N6 PII: S0964-1726(04)79018-7

TECHNICAL NOTE
Multi-DOF and sub-micrometer
piezoelectric-electrorheological stepper
motor
Xiangcheng Chu
1
, Hongyun Qiu, Longtu Li and Zhilun Gui
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084,
Peoples Republic of China
E-mail: chuxiangcheng@tsinghua.edu.cn
Received 30 July 2003, in nal form 11 February 2004
Published
Online at stacks.iop.org/SMS/13/N1
DOI: 10.1088/0964-1726/13/0/N00
Abstract
A new type of piezoelectric-electrorheological plane stepper motor
combining the piezoelectric effect with the electrorheological effect is
proposed in this paper. Four electrorheological clampers and four multilayer
piezoelectric actuators are designed in the prototype motor. Based on a
bionic inchworm movement mechanism, when these electrorheological
clampers are combined with piezoelectric actuators in different ways, the
movements in the x-direction, the y-direction and z-rotation with a long
travel stroke of 100 and 0.36 m resolution can be completed. The
maximum moving speed and driving force of the prototype motor are
1.8 mm min
1
and 100 gf, respectively. The steady stepper velocity and
instant motion image are measured by a CCD optical measuring system
from 0.2 to 23 m s
1
. The motor may be applied in elds such as MEMs,
optical manipulator, manipulator in SEM or STM, laser adjustor,
micromachining, etc.
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1. Introduction
Many inchworm actuators have been proposed and investi-
gated. They mostly use piezoelectric material to generate an
expansion to move themselves, but generally utilize different
contact and clamping mechanisms, such as an inverse piezo-
electric effect, electromagnetic force, electrostatic force and
electrorheological effect. They have different merits:
(a) Electrostatic force is suitable for smaller size devices
but the contact force is much smaller than in other
mechanisms.
(b) Electromagnetic force may generate a larger contact force
but it also yields electromagnetic noise.
(c) Piezoelectric contact force is suitable for smaller size
and larger force, and can be simply controlled using DC
voltage.
1
Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
Moreover, a stepper motor combining the piezoelectric and
electrorheological effects, proposed rstly in 1992 [1], has
shown some unique advantages, such as no friction, no opera-
tional noise, large travel, high resolution, etc. Up to now, there
has been much work on such linear or rotary motors [26]. But,
most of them focus on a one-dimensional freedom of motion.
This paper proposes a newpiezoelectric-electrorheological
(PE) stepper motor with multi degrees of freedom (x-, y-
direction, z-rotation) and sub-micrometer resolution. It uses
electrorheological uid as grippers to eliminate contact noise
and, at the same time, the precise motion attributes to an in-
verse piezoelectric effect of multilayer piezoelectric actuators.
These devices can be used as an objective stage with a high
resolution motion in the elds of precise instruments, biolog-
ical analysis, etc. The structure and operation principles of
this motor will be introduced, and its characteristics and mo-
tion behaviour are investigated experimentally through a CCD
optical system.
0964-1726/04/000001+06$30.00 2004 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK N1

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Technical Note
ER fluid Base
Elastic body
Clamping plate
Piezoelectric actuator P1
C1 C2
C3 C4
P2
P4
P3
Figure 1. The schematic conguration of the multi-DOF PE motor.
2. Structure and operation principle
Electrorheological (ER) uids are liquids that can be
transformed from the liquid state to approximately the
solid state under an external electric eld; it is called the
electrorheological effect and this transition process can be
reversed. The ERuids are high insulating liquids and a slurry
of solid particles with polarity effect. When a sufcient strong
electric eld is used across them, the dispersed particles in the
uids can form particle chains or bres to resist shear force,
and the uid shows solid-like properties.
The multi-DOF PE motor consists of four actuators
P1, P2, P3 and P4 based on multilayer piezoelectric material
to produce a stretched or contracted force, and subsequently
generate a linear displacement along the x- or y-direction.
Four electrode plates C1, C2, C3 and C4 are used as electrical
terminals to generate a high electric eld to form a clamping
force between the multi-DOF PE motor and the base plate,
and ER uids are lled between the motor and the base
plate connected to GND. Four electrode plates are joined Q.1
to each other through a square elastic frame, as shown in
gure 1. Here, the piezo-actuators are driving elements of
the multi-DOF PE motor. There are several small insulators
under the electrode plates as short-circuit protection. When
a high voltage is applied to any electrode plate, the lled ER
uids under this electrode plate will enter a solid-like state,
namely a clamping state. Otherwise, when the voltage is
removed from the electrode plate, the lled ER uids will
return to a liquid state, namely a free state. The dimensions
of the device, outside the four piezoelectric actuators, are
454510 mm
3
(Siemens Inc.). The elastic frame is stainless
steel and manufactured using a linear cutting machine. The
four multilayer piezoelectric actuators are bonded inside the
elastic frame. The photo of the prototype motor is shown in
gure 2.
Under the control of the computer system, the four piezo-
actuators and four ER clampers of the prototype motor can
operate according to different motion modes, such as the x-
direction, y-direction and z-rotation.
The multi-DOF PE motor travels along the x- or y-
direction with a linear motion mode, shown in gure 3. For
Figure 2. Photograph of the multi-DOF PE motor.
(1) (2)
y
y
y
Figure 3. Motion principle in the y-direction of the multi-DOF PE
motor.
example, when it walks along the y-direction, the operation
steps are:
(1) The ER clampers C3 and C4 are activated under a high
voltage (10003000 Vmm
1
) to make the ERuids under
plates C3 and C4 enter a clamping state. This is followed
by an extension of the piezo-actuator P2 and P4 to push
the electrode plates C1 and C2 upward.
(2) The ER clampers C1 and C2 enter a clamping state by
supplying an electric eld. At the same time, the ER
clampers C3 and C4 are freed by removing an electric
eld, and piezo-actuators P2 and P4 shortened to restore
their original length. This also generates a force to pull
the clampers C3 and C4 upward. So the motor can walk
upward by a small distance y, which is equal to the
displacement of the piezo-actuator.
As the operation mentioned above is repeated, the motor
will move upward continuously. If the operation sequence
is reversed, the motor will travel downward.
For the movement between two random points, for
example, if the multi-DOF PE motor travels from the rst
point (x0, y0) to the second point (x, y), there are generally
two simple methods. For the rst method, the motor travels
from (x0, y0) to (x, y0) in the x-direction, subsequently, it
travels from (x, y0) to (x, y) to complete the whole route.
For the second method, the motor walks along a small zigzag
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Technical Note
2
1

Y
(x
0
, y
0
)
(x, y)
X
Figure 4. Zigzag motion of the multi-DOF PE motor between any
two points.
(1) (2)
y
Figure 5. The principle of rotation motion of a multi-DOF PE
motor.
trajectory to form an approximate linear route, namely
(x0, y0) (x0 + x, y0) (x0 + x, y0 + y)
(x0 + 2x, y0 + y) [x0 + nx, y0
+ (m 1)y] [x0 + nx, y0 + my]
where x = x0+nx, y = y0+my, and n and m are integers.
If n and m are sufciently large, this zigzag trajectory will
be similar to a straight line, see gure 4. The whole motion
procedure can be controlled and each step of the zigzag motion
can be adjusted by a computer and power amplier.
In addition, through justifying the time sequence of the
driving voltages for the clamping plates and piezo-actuators,
the PE motor can also rotate at its central point. The operating
sequence is:
1, (C1, P1, C2); 2, (C2, P2, C3);
3, (C3, P3, C4); 4, (C4, P4, C1).
As in the above steps, each motion combination is
regarded as a linear motion. If the four piezo-actuators produce
continuous clockwise or counterclockwise displacement, the
motor can make a clockwise rotation or counterclockwise
rotation. Figure 5 shows the principle of rotation motion of
a multi-DOF PE motor.
Besides the above motion modes, the piezo-actuator P1
contracts and then extends, whereas the other P3 operates in a
reverse way, that is, it extends and then contracts. The piezo-
actuators P2 and P4 stay free the whole time. These operations
will result in the turning of the motor towards the +y direction,
Clamping
position
(2) (1)
Clamping
position
Figure 6. The principle of turning motion of the multi-DOF PE
motor.
Driving circuit
Computer
Control system
Video collector
Computer
Video data encoder
Light source
Focusing unit
CCD
Pattern recognition
Trajectory analysis
microscope
Optical resolution 1 m, image rate 30 Frames/s
PE motor
Figure 7. CCD optical measuring system to analyse the motion
characteristics of the motor.
see gure 6. If the time sequence of the driving voltage for
the piezo-actuators P1 and P3 is reversed, the motor will turn
towards the y-direction.
3. CCD system and image decode principle
The motor was observed using a CCD optical system to
measure the video image of multi-DOF motion. This is a non-
contact measurement method, which can track and describe
the plane motion trajectory of the motor. Figure 7 illustrates a
CCD optical measuring system used to analyse the motion
characteristics of the motor. This optical system consists
of a head-up objective lens, lens cone, prism, light source,
condensing unit, CCD, video collector and computer. The
optical unit is similar to the reected pattern microscope, in
which the moving image of the motor can be reected into the
CCD and then transformed to electric signals. Subsequently,
these signals are obtained by the video collector, and analysed
by the computer to forma video image and data le for further
analysis.
An identiable mark needs to be put on the surface of the
motor to measure linear motion, while two marks for rotation
motion. First, the motion image of the motor is amplied
onto the CCD, and then amplied onto the display screen of
the computer. For these two amplication procedures, the
enlargement factor of the optical systemis the product between
the enlargement factor of the objective lens and the ratio of
computer screen/CCD screen, e.g. for objective lens of 45
and CCD of 1/3 feet, the whole enlargement factor is 2025.
The operating rate of the image obtained by the optical system
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Technical Note
FRAME1 00:00:00:01 FRAME2 00:00:00:04 FRAME1 and 2 and 3 FRAME3 00:00:00:07
FRAME2 00:00:00:07 FRAME1 00:00:00:01 FRAME 1 and 2

(b)
(a)
Figure 8. Trajectory description of the PE-motor. (a) Trajectory description of the mark points of a pure linear motion. (b) Rotational angle
description of the mark points of a rotary or turning motion.
is 30 frames s
1
. When a corrective scale plane with a 5 m
grating is placed under the CCD system, points with 1 m
distance can be identied on the computer screen. It is enough
for a PE motor with a 10 Hz driving frequency, and its moving
trajectory can be observed.
Due to the AVI or BMP le format and around 2030
frames storage, managing these massive data is difcult. To
overcome this difculty, the approach to pattern recognition
should be applied to track the motion trajectory. For a linear
or zigzag motion from any point to another point, only one
mark is required on the image. Through comparing the mark
points, each frame of the motion trajectory can be described, as
shown in gure 8(a). But for the rotation and turning motion,
two marks on the motor are necessary. To evaluate the slope
ratio of the motion trajectory on each frame, the turning angle
can be obtained, as shown in gure 8(b).
Figure 9 shows the gripped transient images during the
motion procedure, that is (a) (b) (c). The reference
object is an electronic chip on the surface of the moving motor.
So the gripped images of the electronic chip is shown on the
computer screen. According to the recognition principle in
gure 8, only one mark inside a small region on the chip can
be tracked to obtain its motion resolution. The direction of the
motion is shown using an arrow mark in the gure.
4. Experiments
Using the CCD optical system, the motion characteristics
of the multi-DOF PE motor were investigated. The piezo-
actuators used in the motor consist of multilayer piezoelectric
material and electrode material in parallel, and its outer size is
5 5 20 mm
3
(supplied by Siemens Co.) with an allowable
voltage range of 0100 V DC. The size of each ER clamping
plate is 3030 mm
2
, and a maximumstatic clamping force of
1 kgf can be obtained when the ERclamping plate is activated
by a high voltage.
The electromechanical characteristics of the piezo-
actuators have a great impact on the velocity and motion
stability of the motor. To obtain its displacement, the tough
needle of a micrometer gauge is pressed onto one side of the
piezo-actuator and the other side is bonded to a base. The
dynamic behaviour of the piezo-actuator is shown in gure 10.
It can be seen that the displacement of the piezo-actuator
is a function of the duty ratio of the impulse, amplitude of
driving voltage and operating frequency. In gures 10(a)
(a) Frame 1
(b) Frame 2
(c) Frame 3
Figure 9. Three frames of gripped images using the CCD optical
measuring system.
and (b), the displacement varies with driving frequency, and
the maximumdisplacement is 28 m under 2.6 Hz and 24 m
under 5.2 Hz. From gures 10(c) and (d), there is a great
difference under free and preload boundary conditions. In
order to obtain a larger output force, the piezoelectric stack
actuators are sandwiched inside the framed structures, which
supply a pressure as a preload. For a free boundary condition,
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Technical Note
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
f=2.6Hz
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

(

m
)
Voltage(V)
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0
5
10
15
20
25
f=5.2Hz
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

(

m
)
Voltage (V)
0 10 20 30 4 50 0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

(

m
)
Frequency(Hz)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

(

m
)
Frequency (Hz)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 10. Dynamic behaviour of the piezo-actuator used in the
multi-DOF PE motor. (a) Duty ratio 10.5%, frequency 2.6 Hz. (b)
Duty ratio 10.5%, frequency 5.2 Hz. (c) 76.0 V, duty ratio 50% and
free boundary condition. (d) 72.8 V, duty ratio 50% and preload
condition.
the maximum displacement of 36 m can be obtained at a
frequency of 18.2 Hz under 76 V and 50% duty ratio. In
contrast, for a preload boundary condition, the maximum
displacement of 24.5 m can be obtained at a frequency of
23 Hz under 72.8 V and 50% duty ratio.
The multi-DOF PE motor was measured under the
following conditions: 76.0 V for the piezo-actuator, 300 V for
the ER clampers, travel stroke 100 m. Figure 11 shows the
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
4
8
12
16
20
24
Velocity
Displacement/step
Frequency (Hz)
V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y

(

m
/
s
)
0
1
2
3
4
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
/
s
t
e
p

(

m
)
Figure 11. Velocity and displacement/step versus frequency of the
multi-DOF PE motor.
2 4 6 8 10 12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
L
o
a
d

(
g
f
)
Velocity (m/s)
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
L
o
a
d

(
g
f
)
Velocity (m/s)
(a)
(b)
Figure 12. Load versus velocity under 76 V for the piezo-actuator
and 300 V for the ER clamps. (a) Frequency 3.5 Hz. (b) Frequency
10 Hz.
average results of speed and displacement/step characteristics
of the multi-DOF PEmotor. It can be seen that the velocity and
displacement per step are a function of the driving frequency.
The series of curves illustrate that there is an optimum value
of frequency required to obtain a maximum velocity. In
this case, it is found to be 7.6 Hz for a maximum velocity
23 m s
1
. The measured frequency band of the motor is
from 2.3 to 14.8 Hz. The displacement per step decreases
with the frequency increase. There is a gentle decrease below
7.8 Hz, whereas there is a large decrease above this value.
The displacement per step is 3.22 m at driving frequency
of 2.3 Hz, and 0.36 m at driving frequency of 14.8 Hz.
Moreover, it veries that ER uids have a slow response time
and the velocity of the PE motor is limited by the frequency
response of the ERuids. To obtain excellent characteristics of
the PE motor, the ER uids performance should be improved
in the future.
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Technical Note
Furthermore, the relationship between load and velocity
is shown in gure 12, which plots no load against velocity for
driving frequencies of 3.5 and 10 Hz. It is shown that the load
is 53 gf at a frequency of 3.5 Hz and velocity of 3 m s
1
, and
the same value of 53 gf at a frequency of 10 Hz and velocity
1.32 m s
1
.
The piezo-actuator can obtain maximum velocity at its
resonant frequency. However, due to the ER uids, the
operating frequency of the multi-DOF PE motor differs from
that of the piezo-actuator. Due to the absorption of resonant
vibrations of piezoelectric actuators, the ERuids will weaken
the resonant behaviour of the motor.
5. Summary
A planar stepper motor combining the piezoelectric effect
with the electrorheological effect has been developed. This
motor prototype can walk in both the x- and y-directions
with large travel and high resolution of less than 0.36 m
on the base plate. The speed of the motor can be controlled
by an input voltage applied to piezo-actuators and operational
frequency. The ER uid is a key functional material for the
motor. The maximum moving speed and driving force of the
prototype motor is 1.8 mm min
1
and 100 gf, respectively.
The steady stepper velocity and instant motion image are
measured by a CCD optical measuring system from 0.2 to
23 m s
1
. The ER uids with quicker response to electric
eld and higher yield strength should be developed in the
future. The motor can be applied in the elds such as MEMs,
optical manipulator, manipulator in SEM and STM, laser
adjustor, micro machining, etc.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the nancial support of the National
Natural Science Foundation of China, grant no. 50235010
and appreciate Dr Shuxiang Dong for initial work on the
conguration and principles of the multi-DOF PE motor.
References
[1] Dong S X and Li L T 1992 A piezoelectric-electrorheological
linear stepper motor Chinese Patent Specication
92105232.4
[2] Maruyama M, Nakamura K and Ueha S 1995 Ultrasonic motor
using electrorheological uid Report of the Meeting of the
Acoustical Society of Japan p 1063
[3] Maruyama M, Ueha S and Nakamura K 1995 Improvement in
the characteristics by modifying the structure and the
material,-ultrasonic motor using electrorheological uid (2)
Report of the Meeting of the Acoustical Society of Japan
p 1145 Q.2
[4] Maruyama M 1996 Ultrasonics 34 2614
[5] Kay E W C and Portington E C Design characteristics of a
piezoelectric/ER uid motor Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on
Mechtronic & Machine Vision in Practice M/SUP 2/VIP.95
p 175 Q.3
[6] Dong S X and Li L T 1995 A new type of linear piezoelectric
stepper motor IEEE Trans. Compon. Packag. Manuf.
Technol. A 18 Q.4
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Queries for IOP paper 179018
Journal: SMS
Author: X Chu et al
Short title: Technical Note
Page 2
Query 1:
Author: Please expand GND
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Query 2:
Author: [3] Article title correct?
Query 3:-
Author: [2, 3, 5]: Any more details?
Query 4:-
Author: [6]: Please provide pagenumber.
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