This work covers the design of active structural acoustic source controllers, where the aim is to reduce radiated noise by placing actuators as close as possible to the disturbance source, in order to intervene as early as possible in the transfer path between disturbance and noise radiators. The considered application is rotating machinery, where the noise is periodic with a fundamental freque...

A new class of polymeric piezoelectric bimorph actuators, called C-blocks because of their curved shape, has been developed to overcome limitations of conventional bimorph and stack piezoelectric configurations. Design tradeoffs are investigated in the current research using various performance criteria such as maximum deflection, force, and strain energy. The set of design variables to optimiz...

Jet engines may experience severe vibration due to the sudden imbalance caused by blade failure. The current research investigates employment of piezoelectric actuators to suppress this using active vibration control. This requires identification of the source of the vibrations via an expert system, determination of the required phase angles and amplitudes for the correction forces, and applica...

An important component of an atomic force microscope is a nanopositioner that moves the sample, relative to the probe, in a raster pattern. A typical AFM nanopositioner is a large, heavy flexure-guided mechanism machined from a solid block of steel or aluminum, with incorporated actuators and displacement sensors. The most widely used actuation technology for nanopositioning is the piezoelectri...

The paper reviews the recent applications of piezoelectric materials in structural health monitoring and repair conducted by the authors. First, commonly used piezoelectric materials in structural health monitoring and structure repair are introduced. The analysis of plain piezoelectric sensors and actuators and interdigital transducer and their applications in beam, plate and pipe structures f...

Haptic technology that provides tactile sensation feedback by utilizing actuators to achieve the purpose of human–computer interaction is obtaining increasing applications in electronic devices. This review covers four kinds electromechanical useful for achieving haptic feedback: electromagnetic, electrostatic, piezoelectric, and electrostrictive actuators. The driving principles, working condi...

Many forms of scanning probe microscopy require a piezoelectric actuator to vary the probe-sample distance. Examples include constant-force atomic force microscopy and constant-current scanning tunneling microscopy. In such modes, the topography of the sample is reconstructed from the voltage applied to the vertical piezoelectric actuator. However, piezoelectric actuators exhibit significant hy...