Design and Analysis of a Thermally Insulating and Heating Scheme for Piezoelectric Stack Actuators Used in the Cryogenic Environment

In cryogenic wind tunnel tests,piezoelectric stacks are adopted to realize the vibration control of the cantilever sting.However,the free stroke and blocking force of the piezoelectric stack would decrease dramatically as the temperature decreases.This paper proposes a convenient and effective warming structure for the piezoelectric stack,which could keep it working at operating temperatures when the ambient temperature drops.The piezoelectric stack actuator is wrapped with the heating film,and this resulting assembly is then wrapped with the aerogel material for thermal insulation.Both ends of the piezoelectric stack actuator make direct contact with the payload structure.Both one-dimensional and two-dimensional theoretical analyses of the heating conduction problem of the piezoelectric stack actuator are conducted.These analyses results are compared with those of the finite element simulation analysis.The finite element method results show a good consistency with the two-dimensional theoretical results,and a slight deviation of only 0.91 K is observed,indicating its potential for protecting piezoelectric stacks at low temperatures.

Whole-spacecraft hybrid vibration isolation based on piezoelectric stacks and viscoelastic material

In order to improve the performance of whole-spacecraft vibration isolation systems,choosing piezoelectric stacks and viscoelastic material as the active and passive vibration isolation components,an innovative whole-spacecraft hybrid vibration isolation system (WSHVIS) is designed and studied.The finite element method is used to establish the dynamic model of WSHVIS and analyze its frequency response characteristic.According to the analysis results,eigensystem realization algorithm is applied to obtain the minimum-order state-space model of WSHVIS,which is used to design controller.On this basis,off-line simulation and on-line realization for the WSHVIS is performed.The simulation and experimental results showed that WSHVIS can effectively reduce the vibration loads transmitted from launch vehicle to spacecraft.Compared with passive vibration isolation system,the hybrid vibration isolation system has a significant inhibitory effect on the low-frequency vibration components,and can greatly increase the safety and reliability of spacecraft.

Development of XY scanner with minimized coupling motions for high-speed atomic force microscope

The design and fabrication processes of a novel scanner with minimized coupling motions for a high-speed atomic force microscope （AFM） were addressed. An appropriate design modification was proposed through the analyses of the dynamic characteristics of existing linear motion stages using a dynamic analysis program, Recurdyn. Because the scanning speed of each direction may differ, the linear motion stage for a high-speed scanner was designed to have different resonance frequencies for the modes, with one dominant displacement in the desired directions. This objective was achieved by using one-direction flexure mechanisms for each direction and mounting one stage for fast motion on the other stage for slow motion. This unsymmetrical configuration separated the frequencies of two vibration modes with one dominant displacement in each desired direction, and hence suppressed the coupling between motions in two directions. A pair of actuators was used for each axis to decrease the crosstalk between the two motions and give a sufficient force to actuate the slow motion stage, which carried the fast motion stage, A lossy material, such as grease, was inserted into the flexure hinge to suppress vibration problems that occurred when using an input triangular waveforrn. With these design modifications and the vibration suppression method, a novel scanner with a scanning speed greater than 20 Hz is achieved.

Sensorless control for hysteresis compensation of AFM scanner by modified Rayleigh model

A novel modified Rayleigh model was developed for compensating hysteresis problem of an atomic force microscope(AFM) scanner.In high driving fields,piezoelectric actuators that integrated a scanner have severe hysteresis,which can cause serious displacement errors.Piezoelectric hysteresis is from various origins including movement of defects,grain boundary effects,and displacement of interfaces.Furthermore,because its characteristic is stochastic,it is almost impossible to predict the piezoelectric hysteresis analytically.Therefore,it was predicted phenomenologically,which means that the relationship between inputs and outputs is formulated.The typical phenomenological approach is the Rayleigh model.However,the model has the discrepancy with experiment result as the fields increase.To overcome the demerit of the Rayleigh model,a modified Rayleigh model was proposed.In the modified Rayleigh model,each coefficient should be defined differently according to the field direction due to the increase of the asymmetry in the high fields.By applying an inverse form of this modified Rayleigh model to an AFM scanner,it is proved that hysteresis can be compensated to a position error of less than 5%.This model has the merits of reducing complicated fitting procedures and saving computation time compared with the Preisach model.