Design of Cellular Piezoelectric Actuators With High Blocking Force and High Strain

Preliminary design and analysis of a new concept for efficiently amplifying piezoelectric actuators are presented in this paper. Piezoelectric actuators, such as Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT), have produced substantial stress at high bandwidth, but at very small strains on the order of 0.1%. This paper presents a new strain amplification design to be utilized as the first layer in the previously designed “nested rhombus” multi-layer mechanism. This mechanism produces substantial strain through exponentially increasing strain with each subsequent layer. However, the blocking force produced in previous designs is insufficient for many practical applications. Through static and kinematic analysis, this paper addresses how this new concept sufficiently amplifies strain, and presents numerous issues to consider in designing for greater blocking force. A prototype of this new concept provides 126 N of blocking force and displacement of 0.3 mm.