The intrinsic hysteresis behavior of piezoelectric material limits the tracking control accuracy of the actuators. This paper describes a tracking control method for piezoelectric actuators based on the combination of feedforward and feedback loops. The hysteresis of piezoelectric actuators is linearized in feedforward loop with an inverse hysteresis model based on a neural network. The number ...

Actuator manufacturers are developing promising technologies which meet high requirements in performance, weight and power consumption. Conventionally, actuators are characterized by their displacement and load performance. This hides the dynamic aspects of those actuation solutions. Work per weight performed by an actuation mechanism and the time needed to develop this mechanical energy are by...

Piezoelectric stick-slip actuators have become the foundation of modern micromanipulation. Due to difficulty in closed-loop control with manipulators that use piezoelectric stick-slip actuators, methods for open-loop control with a human in the loop have been developed. The utility of such methods depends directly on the accuracy of the open-loop models of the manipulator. Prior research has sh...

A new multi-objective topology optimization method is proposed in this study for systematic design of multi-phase piezoelectric actuators. The actuator under consideration is composed of a compliant host structure equipped with piezoelectric elements, where the host structure serves as a compliant amplifier to enlarge the small stroke output generated by the actuation force of piezoelectric mat...

Active mounts are desirable for isolating spacecraft science instruments from onboard vibrational sources such as motors and release mechanisms. Such active isolation mounts typically employ multilayer piezoelectric actuators to cancel these vibrational disturbances. The actuators selected for spacecraft systems must consume minimal power while exhibiting displacements of 5 to 10 μm under load....

This study demonstrates a technology, ‘‘Piezoelectric Windmill’’, for generating the electrical power from wind energy. The electric power-generation from wind energy is based on piezoelectric effect and utilizes the bimorph actuators. Piezoelectric Windmill consists of piezoelectric actuators arranged along the circumference of the mill in the cantilever form. Using the camshaft gear mechanism...

Either electric or magnetic field can be employed for micro actuation. Each type of actuation principle has its own advantages and drawbacks. This paper presents a comparative study of micro actuators driven by electric and magnetic principles. It is shown that the electrostatic and piezoelectric actuators have good scaling effects whereas the electromagnetic actuators have higher power density...

This research presents the modeling and analysis for the buckling and postbuckling behavior of sandwich plates under thermal and mechanical loads. The lay-up configurations of plates are laminated composite with concentric stiffener and surface mounted piezoelectric actuators. The plates are in contact with a three-parameter elastic foundation including softening and/or hardening nonlinearity. ...

Magnetostriction occurs in the most ferromagnetic materials and leads to many effects [1,2]. The most useful one to refer to is the Joule effect. It is responsible for the expansion (positive magnetostriction) or the contraction (negative) of a rod subjected to a longitudinal static magnetic field. In a given material, this magnetostrain is quadratic and occurs always in the same direction what...