Abstract
This work presents a novel type of actuator that improves over the standard cantilever by permitting daisy-chaining while minimising stress to the joint connecting to the load. A detailed structural and functional comparison of the proposed device against the cantilever actuator as a baseline is given, led by a brief revision of the cantilever actuator as the state-of-the-art that highlights its limitations with respect to daisy-chaining and the stress it inherently creates within the joint connecting to the load when attempting out-of-plane displacement without rotation. Simulations of both devices’ performance confirm that the newly proposed device yields the targeted displacement profile that both enables the daisy-chaining of such a device into a higher-order actuator for increased displacement and reduce stress in the joint with the load. This comes at the cost of reduced maximum displacement compared to the cantilever, which can be overcome by daisy-chaining. The proposed device’s performance is further evaluated on the basis of manufactured prototypes measured by means of a laser scanning vibrometer. The prototype was manufactured on a 150 m alumina substrate, and both electrodes and piezoelectric layer were deposited in a thick-film printing process.
Highlights
Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) actuators are enjoying a lot of industrial interest, with applications ranging from micro-mirrors [1,2] over energy harvesting devices [3,4] and micro-speakers [5,6,7,8]
This basic design has recently been used in a range of configurations that deviate from its purest form, e.g., curved [5], concatenated [2,10], and with different transduction mechanisms
The two PZT-sections are polarised with opposing signs to yield an S-shaped displacement profile
Summary
Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) actuators are enjoying a lot of industrial interest, with applications ranging from micro-mirrors [1,2] (e.g., for use in video projectors) over energy harvesting devices [3,4] and micro-speakers [5,6,7,8]. The tip itself ends up in a different plane that is not parallel to the fixed end’s plane This can be useful and is exploited for some applications (see, e.g., Reference [3]). The following section presents the novel staircase actuator that features a special displacement profile with a net zero difference between the tangent angles at the beginning and the end of the actuator. This permits the concatenation of two or more actuators into a newly defined higher order actuator device.
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