A novel driving principle by means of the parasitic motion of the microgripper and its preliminary application in the design of the linear actuator.

This paper presents a novel driving principle by means of the parasitic motion of the microgripper. Actuators based on this principle can realize the large displacement range and high speed easily. Also the structure can be simple. A parasitic motion principle linear actuator mainly consisting of two piezoelectric stacks, two microgrippers and a mover was designed. Experimental results indicate that at a low driving frequency of 5 Hz, large velocity over 40 μm/s is obtained with the driving voltage of 100 V. Backward motion was observed and analyzed. Experimental results verify the feasibility of the new principle and it can be used to design new linear or rotary actuators.