Characterization of energy consumption of new piezo actuator system used for hydraulic on/off valves

Abstract This paper presents a newly developed four-way digital piezo valve system composed of four high-response on/off piezo valves. The main part of the new on/off piezo valves introduces the piezo actuator system, which can be used instead of conventional solenoids. One of the important aspects related to the energy consumption of hydraulic linear drives is the use of energy-efficient hydraulic valves that require low switching energy and low holding power consumption. The first part of the paper presents the theoretical background of piezo technology, which is very important for understanding the properties of piezoelectric actuators. It is followed by a detailed description of the new piezoelectric actuator system used in on/off valves and four-way digital piezo valve system. The main part presents a thorough experimental analysis of the electrical energy consumption of the new piezoelectric actuator system, which can be used both as an actuator of hydraulic high-response on/off valves as well as an energy-efficient micropositioner. To validate the electrical switching energy and the holding power consumption of the new piezoelectric actuator system, several existing on/off valves were used as reference. The experimental analysis shows a huge reduction of electrical energy consumption when using the new piezo actuator system for hydraulic on/off valve actuation. Especially the holding power consumption in the stationary active state is about 6 times lower compared to other hydraulic on/off valves.