Key Engineering Materials Vols. 306-308

Abstract: In this paper, dynamic characteristics of an end-capped hull structure with surface bonded piezoelectric actuators are studied. Finite element technique is used to ensure application to practical geometry and boundary conditions of smart hull structure. Modal analysis is conducted to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the hull structure. Piezoelectric self-sensing actuators are attached where the maximum control performance can be obtained. Active controller based on Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) theory is designed to suppress vibration of smart hull structure. It is observed that closed loop damping can be improved with suitable weighting factors in the developed LQG controller.

Abstract: In this paper, a finite element code especially for micro-magnetostrictive actuators was developed. Two significant characteristics of the presented finite element code are: (1) the magnetostrictive hysteresis phenomenon is effectively taken into account; (2) intrinsic geometric feature of typical thin film structures of large length to thickness ratio, which makes it very difficult to construct finite element mesh in the region of the thin film, is considered reasonably in modeling micro-magneostrictive actuators. For verification purpose, magnetostrictive thin films were fabricated and tested in the form of a cantilevered actuator. The Tb-Fe film and Sm-Fe film are sputtered on the Si and Polyimide substrates individually. The magnetic and magnetostrictive properties of the sputtered magnetostrictive films are measured. The measured magnetostrictive coefficients are compared with the numerically calculated ones.

Abstract: This paper describes design, manufacturing, and wind tunnel test of a motor-driven small-scale expandable wing for MAV class vehicles. The bird-like expandable wing has been developed for investigating the influence of aspect ratio change on the lift and drag of the wing. As a typical bird wing, the wing is separated into inner and outer wings. The wing model consists of the linkage system made of carbon composite strip/rod and the remaining part covered with carbon composite sheet and multiple LIPCAs (Lightweight Piezo-Composite Actuators) mimicking wing feathers. The LIPCA actuator was used to control wing camber, which created additional lift. Wind tunnel tests were conducted to investigate the changes in lift and drag during wing folding and expansion, and to observe the influence of LIPCA actuation on the wing. In the tests, effects of the wing fold/expansion and actuation of LIPCA on changes in lift and drag were quantitatively identified.

Abstract: This paper addresses detail design and demonstration of an insect-mimicking flappingwing mechanism composed of LIPCA (Lightweight Piezo-Composite Actuator) and linkage system that can amplify the actuation displacement of LIPCA. The angular amplification of the linkage system can provide various flapping angles by adjusting the actuation point of the LIPCA. The device can generate flapping frequency ranging from 5 to 50 Hz depending on weight of the wing and linkages. Flapping tests using different wing mass, area, and aspect ratio were performed to investigate the flapping performance. The test results were described and compared with the estimation. It was found that changes in wing mass, area, and aspect ratio result in significant variation of natural flapping-frequency.

Abstract: Recent trend on the research for the storage devices are focusing the realization of the small size and the increase of the recording density. This study is on the development of the design process of the swing arm type actuator composed of two actuators for tracking and focusing that can be widely used in the mobile storage devices. The coarse actuator for tracking is activated by the voice coil motor (VCM) and the fine actuator is activated by PZT. For the design of such actuators, it is required to maximize the sensitivity (force/unit current) as well as to satisfy the dynamic constraints. This research is focusing to increase the sensitivity of the actuator. As a design methodology, topology optimization to design a compliant mechanism can be used for the design of the coarse actuator as well as the fine actuator since increasing the sensitivity is correlated with maximizing the deformation at a certain point for specified exciting forces. For the coarse actuator design, it is necessary to optimize the VCM to maximize the magnetic force: therefore, the parameter optimization technique is applied for the VCM design. Based on the VCM design, the structural part is designed not only for maximizing the sensitivity but also considering the dynamic characteristics. For the fine actuator design, the compliant mechanism excited by the pressure from PZT is designed by topology optimization to increase the sensitivity. The resulted design is expected to manufacture the prototype of small form factor actuators.

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the development of stacked ceramic thin actuation layer IDEAL (Inter-Digitated Electrode Actuation Layer) using d33 actuation mechanism of piezoelectric ceramic. Most of the thin piezoelectric actuators are operated with d31 actuation mechanism. Many kinds of piezoelectric ceramic actuators are strived now to improve the actuation performance. One of efforts to improve performance of piezoceramic actuators is the research trying to develop an actuator using the piezoelectric coefficient d33. The piezoelectric coefficient d33 is almost twice larger than piezoelectric coefficient d31. Therefore, the induced strain of PZT thin layer with d33 actuation mechanism is bigger than that with d31 actuation mechanism. The AFC and LaRC-MFC used d33 actuation mechanism with surface interdigitated electrode to enhance its actuation performance. But their actuation mechanism is not perfect d33 actuation mechanism since the interdigitated electrodes are placed at the surface of the actuation layer. In this research, the stacked ceramic thin actuation layer with imbedded inter-digitated electrodes is designed and manufactured. The actuation strain of stacked ceramic thin actuation layer is measured and compared with the actuation strain of the LaRC-MFC. The comparison shows that the developed stacked ceramic thin actuation layer can produce 10% more actuation strain than LaRC-MFC at relatively high electric field.

Abstract: This paper addresses the power consumption of the LIPCA (LIghtweight Piezo-Composite Actuator) device system when electric input was applied at its resonance frequency. The LIPCA device system is composed of a piezoelectric ceramic layer and fiber reinforced lightweight composite layers. Typically, a PZT ceramic layer is sandwiched by a top fiber layer with low CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) and base layers with high CTE. The advantages of the LIPCA design are weight reduction by using the lightweight fiber reinforced plastic layers without compromising the generation of high force and large displacement, and design flexibility by selecting the fiber direction and the size of prepreg layers. An experimental set-up was specially designed to measure the power consumption of the LIPCA. By measuring the capacitance of the PZT ceramic wafer during the test, the electric power that consumed can be determined. Experimental results revealed a significant increase in capacitance of the PZT ceramic wafer with an increase in the frequency of applied voltage around the natural frequency of the actuator.

Abstract: Many publications have demonstrated advantages of smart polymer actuators over the traditional electromagnetic transducers. One of the most significant contributions of the polymers might be their soft actuation mechanism. Hence unlike the traditional actuators, there is morphological freedom for actuator construction that benefits production of either small scale complex mechanisms or human-like applications. Although many different actuation paradigms of polymer actuators presented in previous publications, no significant contributions are made for the actual industrial applications. A noble idea for acquiring controllable actuation is antagonistic drive mechanism of dielectric elastomer. The mechanism provides fairly accurate controllable motion and relatively large actuation forces. A strong dependency to pre-strain of the polymer is however one of the major constraints of the actuator driving mechanism. A detailed characterization of pre-strain effects should be done for the successful construction of the actuators. Hence an experimental and theoretical consideration about mutual effects of pre-strain and actuator performance is to be presented in the present work.

Abstract: As ElectroActive Polymers (EAPs) attract keen attentions from various engineering fields, they have been proven more beneficial over the traditional electromagnetic transducers. In the present paper, a new polymeric material that could be adopted for a dielectric elastomer actuator is introduced. The proposed synthetic rubber produces larger deformation at higher energy efficiency compared to previously known dielectric elastomers. A method for the material synthesis and a set of comparative testing of the material to the existing material are to be mentioned in the present work. In addition, benefits of actuators made with the proposed material are discussed.

Abstract: In this paper, fracture behavior of ferroelectric ceramics under combined electromechanical loading was investigated using moiré interferometry. It is found that the influence of electric field on fracture toughness is not very larger in the case that the directions of the poling, electric field and crack extension are perpendicular to each other. When the poling direction is parallel to the crack extension direction and both are perpendicular to the electric field direction, the normal strain measured reduced faster than that calculated by FEM with and without electrical loading as the distance away from the crack tip increases. Fracture toughness decreases obviously as the electric-field intensity increases.