A walking type piezoelectric actuator with two umbrella-shaped flexure mechanisms
Jianping Li, Junjie Cai, Jianming Wen, Jiafeng Yao, Jingshi Huang, Tong Zhao, Nen Wan
Abstract
Abstract A walking type piezoelectric actuator with two umbrella-shaped flexure mechanisms is proposed to reduce the backward motion. By utilizing two umbrella-shaped flexure mechanisms which could be treated as two ‘legs’, the ‘walking’ motion is accomplished. The structure and motion principle are described; Finite Element Method (FEM) is exploited to explore the static and modal performances of the umbrella-shaped flexure mechanism. Moreover, experiments have been carried out to investigate the working performance of the proposed walking type piezoelectric actuator. Results show that the walking type piezoelectric actuator with umbrella-shaped flexure mechanisms could achieve the ‘walking’ motion and reduce the backward motion. Additionally, the phase difference between two input signals U 1 and U 2 greatly influences the working performance. In the case of the phase difference Φ = 95°, the backward rate of the slider is able to achieve the minimum 0%; the minimum stepping displacement is 0.3 μ m when the frequency f = 1 Hz; the maximum motion speed of the slider is up to 1132 μ m s −1 when the input frequency f = 400 Hz and the input voltage U = 120 V; the maximum output force is 700 g while the input voltage U = 120 V and frequency f = 1 Hz.