Stepping Piezo Actuators (SPA) are long stroke linear piezoelectric actuators able to perform long stroke (typ. >10mm) with an important resolution (typ. <1nm). Use of famous Amplified Piezo Actuator APA gives the motor interesting characteristics, such as useful deformation mode and speed improvement, compared to standard inertial motors. The paper proposes experimental results obtained on var...

In the middle 90s, the Face Companies created Face International Corporation to focus R&D efforts on high tech applications in the field of piezoelectric technologies. Since then, the company has developed a portfolio of over 50 US patents and several international Patents. The company is currently commercializing three breakthrough technologies including high deformation Thunder piezoelectric ...

This paper deals with the vibration analysis of an asymmetric composite beam composed of glass a piezoelectric material. The Bernoulli’s beam theory is adopted for mechanical deformations, and the electric potential field of the piezoelectric material is assumed such that the divergence-free requirement of the electrical displacements is satisfied. The accuracy of the analytic model is assessed...

A mechanics model is developed for the encapsulated piezoelectric thin-film actuators/sensors system imperfectly bonded to the human skin to simultaneously determine the Young's moduli of the epidermis and dermis as well as the thickness of epidermis.

This paper analyses scale effects for actuator types which are strong candidates for micro-actuation: shape memory alloys (SMAS), electrostatic, electromagnetic and piezoelectric actuators. SMA actuators are studied in detail and compared to the other actuator types on a basis of force, response time, and power densi~. Much of the analysis is based on thermal aspects and scaling effects on both...

Piezoelectric actuators are widely used in smart materials for vibration and noise control, precision actuators, etc. [1]. These actuators are largely capacitive and the reactive power applied on them can go to several tens of Watts. High-voltage, high-power class-D amplifiers [2-5] are ideal drivers for such loads, because of their high power efficiency. Preferably, efficiency should be high b...

One of the best vibration control methods using smart actuators are semi-active approaches which are as strong as active methods and need no external energy supply such as passive ones. Compared with piezoelectric-based, magnetostrictive-based control methods have higher coupling efficiency, higher Curie temperature, higher flexibility to be integrated with curved structures and no depolarizati...

Piezoelectric single crystals, which have excellent piezoelectric properties, have extensively been employed for various sensors and actuators applications. In this paper, the state-of-art in piezoelectric single crystals for ultrasonic transducer applications is reviewed. Firstly, the basic principles and design considerations of piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers will be addressed. Then, th...