Analysis and experimental research of a multilayer linear piezoelectric actuator

To lower the operating voltage and improve the output performance of piezoelectric actuators, a multilayer monolithic ultrasonic linear piezoelectric actuator was analyzed with the method of finite element analysis (FEA), and a prototype was fabricated and experimentally researched in this study. Experimental results show that the actuator with a multilayer piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) structure (size: 30 × 7.5 × 3 mm³, mass: 5.49 g) can output a pulling force of 5.0 N maximum and a linear velocity up to 270 mm/s at the voltage of 100 V_pp (V_pp means the peak-to-peak value of the voltage volts), showing a relatively good velocity controllability at the same time. The temperature rise characteristic of the actuator at various voltages was studied. The results indicate that: The temperature of this actuator rises rapidly but tends to saturate at some value; applying an offsetting voltage or decreasing the amplitude of the voltage would reduce the heat production.