US Patent 9,362,851, Rotary Motor Systems and Methods Thereof, issued June 7, 2016 to inventors Qin Xu, Daniele Piazza, Matt Wrona and David Henderson.
This new rotary piezoelectric motor achieves very high rotational speed with significant torque in a very small diameter.
The operating principal is a variation on New Scale's miniature SQUIGGLE® motor.
New Scale has demonstrated the motor design in a diameter less than 4 mm with a rotational speed greater than 12,000 RPM while requiring only 3.3 volts.
Targeted applications include systems that require no magnetic fields, very small diameter and volume, and direct battery-powered operation.
Application examples include eccentric rotating mass motors that generate human detectable vibrations, and endoscopic medical instruments.
Because piezoelectric motors are used, no ferromagnetic materials are required in construction and no magnetic fields are generated during operation. Therefore the device can be integrated into
systems containing radios, antennas and compasses without interfering with their operation. It can also operate safely in MRI imaging systems.