A little fin action — from a piezo motor

This demonstration at theNanomotionbooth involved a fin as might be found on a missle or an aquatic vehicle. It moved back and forth courtesy of a Nanomotion piezo motor, visible in the image held next to the fin. Unlike conventional motors, piezo motors move back and forth thanks to piezoelectric effects that alternately squeeze and expand a special piezo material to create a motion. They have some benefits in applications like this one in that they may take up less space than equivalent rotary motor and be relatively lightweight to boot.

Nanomotion created the fin for demonstration purposes. It rotates 25° back and forth at 120°/sec. Fin torque is 0.24 N-m. Fin angular acceleration is 4,000°/sec²with an angle accuracy of ±0.08°. A CAD model of the actuator is below.
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