Piezo Motors

MICROMO represents PiezoMotor AB products in North America and partners closely with the PiezoMotor team to offer piezo motor solutions to the OEM market. Piezo motors are just one of many custom motion solutions offered by MICROMO.

During the 1980s, the founders of PiezoMotor AB, Professor Stefan Johansson and Dr Mats Bexell started their research on micro motion systems. After almost ten years of research, they were awarded the Swedish Innovation Cup and the ”Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow” prize for their new rotating piezoelectric motor. The motor was the world’s smallest and strongest motor built to date.

PiezoMotor AB developed the basis of the linear piezo motor that eventually led to the first product – Piezo LEGS®. In 2002, the first shipments to customers were launched and growth continues across markets .

In 2000, work started on the world’s smallest linear piezo motor – PiezoWave®. This motor design was introduced to the market in 2005 and has received global attention. PiezoWave® is designed for mass volume manufacturing and provides new possibilities to motorize small product designs.

In 2007, PiezoMotor AB started a collaboration agreement with the FAULHABER Group making the FAULHABER Group a shareholder in the company.

Piezo LEGS^® Motor

Adapts easily to specifications & demands
Flexible design allows custom integration without concern of tuning surrounding mechanical structures
Extremely stiff and stable performance make the motor ideal for dynamic positioning applications requiring nanometer precision
High force to size ratio
Manufactured in large qualities to reduce cost
Simple drive and control electronics

	Piezo LEGS^® Linear Motor	Piezo LEGS^®Rotational Motor

Dimensions	22 mm X 10.8 mm X 11 mm	27 mm X 23 mm
Weight	20 g	70 g
Velocity	12.5 mm/s	13.5 rpm
Frequency Range	0 ...2100 Hz	0 ...3000 Hz
Stall Force/Torque	6.4 N	80 mNm
Holding Force/Torque	7.2 N	90 mNm
Phase Voltage	0 ...42 V	0 ...42V
Resolution	1 nm	1 microrad
Step Displacement	3 micron	0.35 mrad
Stroke	35 mm	N/A
Phase Capicitance @ 22°C	430 nF	645 nF
Power Consumption	5 mW/Hz	7.5 mW/Hz
Temperature Range	-20 ...+70°C	-20 ...+70°C
Links to the Data Sheets	[Piezo LEGS® Motor]	[Piezo LEGS® Rotational Motor]
Links to the Starter Kit information	[Piezo LEGS® Linear Motor Starter Kit]	[Piezo LEGS® Rotational Motor Starter Kit]

It all began in France more than 120 years ago. The two Curie brothers Jacques and Pierre discovered that by compressing a crystalline material such as Rochelle salt they could create electric voltage. The interesting thing is that the opposite is also true – if you place an electric field over a piezo crystal it changes shape. It is this shape-changing capacity that is the basis for PiezoMotor’s micro motor technology. Instead of Rochelle salt, piezoceramic materials have been developed to meet the requirements of modern applications.

Piezoelectric motors have been around for many decades. The first motors were developed fairly simultaneously by researchers in the former Soviet Union and in the USA. However, it was not until the 1980s that the motors appeared in high numbers in commercial products.