Study on the new type of piezoelectric actuator utilizing smooth impact drive mechanism

In this paper, the linear piezoelectric actuator utilizing smooth impact drive mechanism (SIDM) was proposed. It is easy to fabricate an actuator because of the simple structure of a bimorph type piezoelectric ceramic cantilever without any rotators or sliders. The cantilever, called as leg, was composed of four rectangular ceramics which were attached on the surfaces of an elastic body. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was used to optimize the driving characteristics of the actuator. When bipolar rectangular wave with different durations for positive and negative voltages was applied, the piezoelectric actuator was moved by a stick-slip driving mechanism. The actuator was driven by two successive motions of actuator legs, slow forward and rapid backward movement. The driving characteristics of the prototype actuator were measured by the laser Doppler vibrometer.