A review of recent studies on non-resonant piezoelectric actuators

Various non-resonant piezoelectric actuators have been emerged in recent decades and they have been applied successfully in many industrial fields, such as medical apparatuses, optical instruments and semiconductor technologies. They are generally classified into three categories according to their different working principles: the direct drive type, the inertial drive type and the inchworm type, respectively. The main contribution of this work is to provide a comprehensive review of recent studies on the non-resonant type piezoelectric actuators. In this review, the operating principles, some representative designs, performance analyses and practical applications of each type of non-resonant piezoelectric actuators are provided. Finally, a summary is concluded and the future development perspectives of these non-resonant type piezoelectric actuators are discussed. This review contributes to giving a comprehensive understanding of the non-resonant type piezoelectric actuators. It also provides guidance on designing new piezoelectric actuators for improving their mechanical output performances.