Research on the Driving Mechanism With PLZT Multi-Patches Combination for Optical Actuation Response Improvement

PLZT actuators taken as one type of photo-deformable actuators have been widely applied for micro-driven systems and active vibration control of photostrictive laminated flexible structures. However, the slow response of photodeformation of single patch PLZT actuator greatly affects its application. In this paper, the main factors for the slow response of the PLZT actuator are investigated using experimental method. The increasing temperature during light on state and the residual photovoltage and photodeformation during light off state are considered to be the main factors for the slow response of the PLZT actuator. To improve the driving performance of PLZT ceramic, some effective measures through reducing the effect of increasing temperature and eliminating residual photovoltage and photodeformation are proposed and experimentally validated in this paper. Considering the effective measures proposed in this paper, two novel optical driving mechanisms based on PLZT bimorph and multi-patches combination for driving source are proposed.