Nonlinear static characteristics of piezoelectric unimorph bending micro actuators

The nonlinear static characteristic of a piezoelectric unimorph cantilever micro actuator driven by a strong applied electric field is studied based on the couple stress theory.The cantilever actuator consists of a piezoelectric layer,a passive（elastic）layer and two electrode layers.First,the nonlinear static characteristic of the actuator caused by the electrostriction of the piezoelectric layer under a strong applied electric field is analyzed using the Rayleigh-Ritz method.Secondly,since the thickness of the cantilever beam is in micro scale and there exists a size effect,the size dependence of the deformation behavior is evaluated using the couple stress theory.The results show that the nonlinearities of the beam deflection increase along with the increase of the applied electric field which means that softening of the micro beam rigidity exists when a strong external electric field is applied.Meanwhile,the optimal value of the thickness ratio for the passive layer and the piezoelectric layer is not around 1.0 which is usually adopted by some previous researchers.Since there exists a size effect of the micro beam deflection,the optimal value of this thickness ratio should be greater than 1.0 in micro scale.

Model of Polysilicon Electro-thermal Micro Actuator and Research of Micro Scale Effect

A type of crank beam electro-thermal micro actuator was prescribed. Mechanical model of the actuator was established, and the static characteristic was analyzed.Comparing the theoretical analysis with experimental data, it is found that the thermodynamic character of material in micro actuator has a different variable regularity contrasted to that used in macro scale machines. It is the micro scale effect that results in the deviation between the simulating result and experimental results. The thermodynamic expression of polysilicon, which was fitted by means of the experimental data concerned, was used to modify the mechanical model. The modified model, in which the micro scale thermodynamic characteristic was considered, was more reasonable and could make the optimal design and control strategies analyzing the straight-line micro actuator more feasible.

Research on an inertial piezoelectric actuator for a micro in-pipe robot

A new kind of inertial piezoelectric actuator for a micro in-pipe robot is proposed and studied. The actuator is composed of a body, corresponding to a mass rod, and four elastic legs. Each leg is a composite piezoelectric bimorph beam, made up of a middle metal element, an upper and lower piezoelectric elements. The mechanism is driven by an asymmetric waveform voltage, such as saw-toothed waveform, and utilizes the dynamic relationship between the maximum static friction force and the inertial force. To study the actuator, firstly, the constituent equation of a composite piezoelectric bimorph under both applied voltage and external force was inferred by thermodynamics. Secondly, the dvnamic model of the actuator was established analyzing the relationship between the locomotive states, viz. displacement and velocity, and design parameters, such as piezoelectric strain constant, elastic modulus,length, width and thickness of the piezoelectric element, actuator mass, and driving vohage. At last, the dynamic equation was solved and the theoretical calculation of the inherent frequency was more consistent with the experimental data, which proved the rationality of the model. All these lay a theoretical foundation of the micro actuator parameter optimization and more research on a micro robot.

Fabricating a Micro Electromagnetic Actuator with High Energy Density

This paper introduces a new technology to fabricate a micro electromagnetic actuator with high energy density without an enclosed magnetic circuit. This technology includes fabricating multi-turns planar micro coils and fabricating the thick magnetic （NiFe） core on the silicon wafer. The multi-turns planar micro coils are fabricated by the electroplating method from the surface along the line and by dynamically controlling the current density of the copper electrolytes. In order to fabricate thick NiFe plating,the adhesion properties between the NiFe plating and the silicon substrates are improved by changing the surface roughness of the silicon substrates and increasing the thickness of the seed layer. Furthermore,the micro electromagnetic actuator is tested and the energy density of the actuator is evaluated by force testing. The experiments show that the microactuator is efficient in producing high magnetic energy density and high magnetic force.

Encryption/decryption and microtarget capturing by pH-driven Janus microstructures fabricated by the same femtosecond laser printing parameters

Several natural organism can change shape under external stimuli. These natural phenomena have inspired a vast amount of research on exploration and implementation of reconfigurable shape transformation. The Janus structure is a promising approach to achieve shape transformation based on its heterogeneous chemical or physical properties on opposite sides.However, the heterogeneity is generally realized by multi-step processing, different materials,and/or different processing parameters. Here, we present a simple and flexible method of producing p H-sensitive Janus microactuators from a single material, using the same laser printing parameters. These microactuators exhibit reversible structural deformations with large bending angles of ~31°and fast response(~0.2 s) by changing the p H value of the aqueous environment. Benefited from the high flexibility of the laser printing technique and the spatial arrangements, pillar heights, and bending directions of microactuators are readily controlled,enabling a variety of switchable ordered patterns and complex petal-like structures on flat surfaces and inside microchannels. Finally, we explore the potential applications of this method in information encryption/decryption and microtarget capturing.

ANALYZING ON THE VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF A MICRO PIEZOELECTRIC ROBOT IN PIPELINE

The mathematical model of a micro piezoelectric elastic legged robot in pipeline was founded. The robotic resonant frequency worked out with the mathematical model is nearly equal to the frequency from experiment. It indicates that the mathematical model of the robot is correct. Besides, it studied the piezoelectric robotic structure parameters’ effect on the robotic performance. The result of the analysis on the robot constructs the base of an optimal design of a piezoelectric robot.