The exhibition “Piezoelectric motors - created in KPI” was opened in the State Polytechnic Museum named after Borys Paton. The opportunity to organize it appeared last year, when the museum staff, while researching one particular exhibit of the museum collection - a piezoelectric motor - received a unique collection of samples of such motors to replenish the museum collection in addition to information material.
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Piezoelectric motors are motors based on the use of the properties of piezoelectric ceramics, whose high-frequency microscopic vibrations can be converted into rotational or translational motion. Motors of this type are advantageous in some special applications that place special demands on accuracy, reliability, speed, torque, electromagnetic compatibility, and environmental friendliness. Therefore, they are currently used in space, medical, laboratory, household appliances, and some precision mechanics devices.
The history of this type of engine is directly related to the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and its scientists. In the mid-1960s, at the KPI, at the Department of Dielectrics and Semiconductors of Professor Mykhailo Nekrasov, a recent graduate, Viacheslav Lavrinenko, made an invention that formed the basis for further work and, ultimately, provided a new class of devices.
The museum managed to track down one of Lavrinenko's first students and associates, Volodymyr Vyshnevsky, for whom piezoelectric motors, like his teacher, became a matter of professional life: he worked on this topic first at the KPI and later at Physik Instrumente GmbH in Germany. It was thanks to his enthusiasm and warm feelings for his Alma Mater that our museum created the collection of piezoelectric motors presented in the exhibition.
In the photo: museum standThe exhibition of piezoelectric motors is the result of research into these devices from the first practical design to a number of unique exhibits that reflect the gradual path of scientific and engineering research. At the stand dedicated to the initial stage of piezoelectric motors development, museum visitors can visually familiarize themselves with the stages of this development. It also presents the results of patent and bibliographic searches, research in this area by our scientists and an analysis of publications by foreign researchers on the history of piezo motors. The exhibition also displays the result of the practical application of these developments - the overhead projector “KYIV-66 AUTOMAT”, which uses piezo motors designed in KPI.
The inventions and developments of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute related to piezoelectric motors are widely recognized worldwide, as evidenced by the copyright certificates and patents received by the university staff in dozens of countries, as well as references to them in publications by researchers who have worked on this topic in other countries. In recognition of Vyacheslav Lavrinenko's achievements in Ukraine, a postage stamp dedicated to his invention, the piezo motor, was issued as part of the series "Inventions that Ukraine Gave to the World." It is also now on display at the museum.
The State Polytechnic Museum of the KPI expresses its deep gratitude to Volodymyr Sergiyovych Vyshnevsky for the unique exhibits and memoirs provided to the museum, which are an invaluable contribution to the history of the KPI.
We invite you to visit the State Polytechnic Museum and see the first exhibition from the series "Created in KPI". The exhibition is dedicated to the history of piezoelectric motors and the participation of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute scientists in the mainstream of technology development.