Piezoelectric motor with multilayer piezoelectric elements

摘要

The specification discloses a piezoelectric motor which comprises an actuator and a rotor. The actuator includes a frame which has at least three arms extending from the center of the frame in a radial direction so that tip portions of the arms are situated on the same circumference. The actuator further includes multilayer piezoelectric elements formed by stacking a plurality of piezoelectric sections along a stack axis. The elements are placed respectively between adjacent arms in the frame so as to make the adjacent arms symmetrical to each other in regard to a line passing through the center and perpendicular to the stack axis. The rotor is supported in a freely rotatable manner around an axis passing through the center of the frame. The rotor has an inner wall inscribed with the tip portions of the arms and is rotated with a driving force generated on the tip portions when driving voltages having a predetermined phase difference from each other are applied to the multilayer piezoelectric elements.