Strength of zero-stiffness microactuators

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractScientific

Abstract

Many popular microactuators, including piezoelectric actuators, suffer from incomplete conversion of input energy into mechanical output work. The culprit is their inherent stiffness. Energy used in the elastic deformation limits the output displacement and force and thus the work. At full stroke, all force is used to deform the material itself and all energy is stored as internal elastic energy. Therefore, microactuators with zero internal stiffness (in the direction of actuation) are desired for high energy conversion efficiency. These actuators use either field actuation (electrostatic, magnetic) or zero stiffness statically-balancing structures. Only when the system requires energy storage, e.g. in dynamic systems, should actuators with internal stiffness be considered. These microactuators must be integrated with proper force transfer structures to achieve optimal actuation configurations for different actuation purposes. Distributing these actuators in series and in parallel allows us to achieve the desired large displacement and force outputs resulting in distributed actuator structures with optimal energy performance.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2018
EventAPS March Meeting 2018 - Los Angeles, United States
Duration: 5 Mar 20189 Mar 2018
http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR18/Content/3475

Conference

ConferenceAPS March Meeting 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLos Angeles
Period5/03/189/03/18
Internet address

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