Thermal effect on piezoelectric stick-slip actuator systems

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The piezoelectric stick-slip (PZT-SS) actuator is known to achieve motion with a theoretically unlimited range yet high resolution (several nanometers). In this type of actuator, friction plays an active role in producing a meaningful stick-slip motion. However, friction is a source of heat which may cause significant temperature rise, affecting the dynamic performance of the actuator. Our study aimed to measure temperature rise in the stick-slip motion and to understand whether such a rise could significantly affect the displacement of the stick-slip motion. In this study, a temperature measurement system was developed using the off-the-shelf components, with which the temperature rise up to 0.436 degrees C was successfully measured on a proprietary PZT-SS actuator. The experiment further shows that the temperature rise affects the displacement of the actuator when operating voltage is at the low end (approximately 6 V). Therefore, one of the design recommendations for such an actuator system is that the operating voltage should be at the high end (approximately 30 V). The study also measured the temperature rise (approximately 0.263 degrees C after the system worked for 6300 s) at the friction interface due to the piezoelectric element which is a part of the whole PZT-SS actuator. This means that temperature rise is due to both the friction at two interacting surface and the operation of the piezoelectric element.