A novel two-degree-of-freedom spherical ultrasonic motor using three travelling-wave type annular stators

In order to promote the tolerance and controllability of the multi-degree-of-freedom (M-DOF) ultrasonic motor, a novel two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) spherical ultrasonic motor using three traveling-wave type annular stators was put forward. Firstly, the structure and working principle of this motor were introduced, especially a spiral spring as the preload applied component was designed for adaptive adjustment. Then, the friction drive model of 2-DOF spherical motor was built up from spatial geometric relation between three annular stators and the spherical rotor which was used to analyze the mechanical characteristics of the motor. The optimal control strategy for minimum norm solution of three stators’ angular velocity was proposed, using Moore-Penrose generalized inverse matrix. Finally, a 2-DOF prototype was fabricated and tested, which ran stably and controllably. The maximum no-load velocity and stall torque are 92 r/min and 90 mN·m, respectively. The 2-DOF spherical ultrasonic motor has compact structure, easy assembly, good performance and stable operation.