On November 2, 2018, the presentation and validation of three new postage stamps, which are being put into circulation to pay for postal services in Ukraine, took place. These stamps are dedicated to inventions that have made Ukraine famous all over the world. One of the stamps is dedicated to the invention of a fundamentally new type of electric motor - a piezoelectric motor, the author of which is a senior researcher at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Vyacheslav Vasyliovych Lavrynenko.
The invention was made in 1964. A young specialist V.V. Lavrynenko at the Department of Dielectrics and Semiconductors (now - the Department of Microelectronics FEL) conducted a study of the power piezoelectric transformer and found its rotation in the holder. After studying this phenomenon, he created the world's first piezoelectric rotary motor, and later a linear piezoelectric motor to relay’s gear. Vyacheslav Vasyliovych's works were decades ahead of similar works abroad. Later V.V. Lavrynenko developed all the basic principles of operation and design of piezoelectric motors. More than 200 copyright certificates and patents have been obtained for the invention of the piezoelectric motor, more than 50 of which are patents in foreign countries.
Given the prospects for the use of piezoelectric motors, a branch laboratory of piezoelectric motors was established at the Department of Microelectronics, headed by V.V. Lavrynenko. Developments of this laboratory are embodied in serial production of motors for the VCR “Electronics-532", for the "Dnieper-2" slide projector, for film cameras, drives of vending machines, ball cranes, etc. At present, millions of piezoelectric engines for various purposes are mass-produced in different countries of the world.
The invention of the piezoelectric motor, of course, belongs to the outstanding inventions of the world. Unfortunately, in our country currently there are no enterprises that would mass-produce piezoelectric motors. Today V.V. Lavrynenko continues to work on the improvement of piezoelectric motors in a very modest position of engineer of the Department of Microelectronics.