This is a video about the piezoelectric effect. For one example of how this can be applied, you can read about the piezo motor.

[image from Andrew]

Piezoelectricity describes a transducer relationship between electrical power and mechanical oscillation. The piezoelectric effect is situated in certain materials that possess the cabability to generate electricity when afflicted by mechanical stress. This material duress-rotating, distorting or compressing-has to be sufficient to deform the crystal lattice without breaking it.

Piezo properties are unusual in that they’re reversible. This means that materials demonstrating the direct piezoelectric effect, or the generation of electric current when mechanical tension is employed, also display the opposite piezo effect, the creation of physical stress when an outside electric current is applied.

Piezoelectricity was observed in the 1800s by the Curie brothers. At that time, they were only 21 and 24 years old. They recognized that quartz crystals created an electrical current when pressured on a primary axis. The phrase piezo is derived from the Greek; Piezein, which means “to squeeze or press,” and piezo, which translates to mean “push.”

So What is a Piezo Motor?

A piezo motor takes advantage of the piezoelectric effect, which is the tension that forces a multilayered material, like cane sugar or topaz, to bend when charged with an energy current. A piezoelectric motor doesn’t create or need magnetic fields, and it’s not affected by them. In that way, the piezo motor works more precisely when compared to a regular electric motor unit. It is little, surprisingly powerful, fast and has neither rotors nor gears.

One time I read about a piezo motor that was the size of a sugar cube. It could move a number of centimeters at one time and could carry around one thousand times its own weight.

The Insides of the Piezo Motor

The piezoelectric motor has actually been integrated in microchip manufacturing for quite a while, so it isn’t a new concept. Zirconate, lead and titanate powders are refined, morphed to shape, fired, charged, polarized, and tested. To achieve polarization, electric fields are applied to align the materials on a primary axis.

This system may seem complicated, but the piezo motor functions the same way that elements that contain iron are magnetized. After an electrical source is applied, the piezoelectric motor uses its poled ceramic structure to create movement by using routine, sinusoidal electric fields.

The ceramic area is joined with a precision stage, and the resultant driving force from the piezo motor creates stage movement. Depending how the joining device is assembled, a piezo motor can move both linearly and in rotationally. The periodic nature from the driving voltage yields unlimited travel and steady movement.

Piezo Motor Types

The piezoelectric motor has long been produced in a variety of ways for a number of uses. The traveling-wave piezo motor is utilized for the auto-focus function in reflex cameras and the inchworm piezo motor moves linearly. A few piezoelectric motors are used in camera sensor displacement technology, enabling anti-shake capabilities.

The piezo motor can be utilized in handheld devices, medical technology products, the automotive sector and in electronic home electrical devices. The piezoelectric motor is becoming more and more cost-effective, even for mass volume applications in high-precision systems.

While the piezoelectric motor is one unique application of the piezo phenomenon, a number of other uses exist. Currently, modern piezoelectric materials are mass-made for many uses-underwater transducers, medical products, and ultrasonic cleaners, for example.