Jigsaw stator puts flat motor directly on PCB – now with even smaller footprint
Increasing global competition drives today’s need for improved innovation, productivity, and faster time to market.
By using a PCBMotor, you can increase your profit margin and fast-track development processes while still using standard components and well-established assembly techniques. PCBMotors now come in two models: the standard square footprint stator and the new jigsaw stator. Both are delivered ready-to-use in sizes ranging from 10 mm to 70 mm.
The jigsaw stator can be mounted in three different ways (see Figure 1)
A. In line with PCB
B. Onto PCB
C. Elevated over PCB
“Developers interested in creating applications with many moving parts will find this new technology especially beneficial as they can now integrate even more motors onto a single PCB,” says Henrik Staehr-Olsen, CEO of PCBMotor.
Traditional design methods use PCBs as motor controllers with connections to a physical motor located somewhere in the vicinity of the card. Thinking out of the box, Danish technology company, PCBMotor ApS, developed a new technology to build flat, yet highly accurate motors directly onto the PCB itself. “We were thrilled to have been named amongst the Top 10 Best New Products of 2009 by EE Times. Since then, we’ve made the motor’s footprint even smaller” says Henrik Staehr-Olsen.
Precise automatic and manual adjustments
There are numerous applications that can utilize this technology, spanning the medico, telecom, aviation/aerospace, as well as the robotics and instrumentation industries.
Does, for example, your application require movement and the precise control of a lens, valve, laser, mirror, pointer, or a button? And does this adjustment need to be automatically as well as manually controlled? Do you also need to reduce the height and size of your application?
While this may sound a little contradictory, it is in fact possible with our recently-patented technology.
Under the motor’s hood
Technically speaking, the PCBMotor consists of basically two parts:
1. The stator. Milled out of the PCB itself, houses the piezos/actuators and the electrical connecting circuit (the PCB can also hold the driver)
2. The rotor. Pressed onto the surface of the stator, which delivers the mechanical output.
A travelling wave is generated over the stator surface, acting as a flexible ring, and produces an elliptical motion on the rotor interface. This elliptical motion of the contact surface propels the rotor and the connected drive-shaft.
1 mm x 1 mm piezo ceramic components are mounted on the PCB. Operation depends on friction between the moving rotor and the stator as well as the amplitude and quality of the wave travelling on the stator. The rotor can turn between 60 and 120 RPM with torque ranging from 1 Nmm to more than 70 Nmm depending on the stator’s diameter, the number of piezo components and the rotor design and material.
Read the white paper to learn more
Visit www.pcbmotor.com to sign up for our white paper and discover how to turn your PCB into a motor.
