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| | Piezo Actuator | -> | Cedrat Technologies | PiezoMechanik | |
Piezoelectric Actuators
Piezoelectric actuators are composed of a multilayer piezoelectric element (see the Piezoelectric Ceramics section for more details about these materials) and a mechanical preloading mechanism
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The mechanical preloading mechanism (or prestress) is an essential component of the actuator in that it maintains the multilayer piezoelectric element under compressive stress and thus prevents premature delamination and cracking from occurring. Furthermore, the piezoelectric material exhibits an optimum operating point for very precise preload conditions.
The piezoelectric actuators offered by Cedrat Technologies utilize state of the art designs that optimize the preload of the actuators. As a result, these actuators display superior mechanical energy densities and unsurpassed lifetime, which has been tested to exceed ten billions cycles.
Piezoelectric actuators can be separated in two large families: the first one includes actuators that operate at low frequencies (off-resonance) and are typically used for positioning and vibration control applications; the second family regroups actuators that operate at resonance, and are used in a multitude of ultrasonic applications.
The first family of piezoelectric actuators can be further subdivided into two groups: the direct actuators, typically used where high forces are required, and the amplified actuators, that are capable of larger displacements. Direct piezoelectric actuators take advantage of the high force generation capabilities of the piezoelectric material.
They are suited for applications that require high force or high stiffness.Cedrat Technologies offers two types of direct piezoelectric actuators: a classical version, the Direct Piezo Actuators that incorporates a serial prestress mechanism; and a very unique design, the Parallel Prestress Actuators which is based on a novel prestress mechanism that involves no moving parts and provides better dynamic and lifetime performance, in a more compact package. The Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators use a flextensional shell to produce high strain levels (as high as 1%). The major advantage of this design is that it is not based on a lever arm or flexures, and is therefore stiff and offers excellent bandwidth and lifetime performance.
The Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators are well suited for a wide range of micro- and nano-positioning, vibration control, noise cancellation, micro-machining, and energy harvesting applications. Finally, for high-frequency applications, we offer a variety of Ultrasonic Actuators that operate at low voltage and are extremely compact.
