A Low-Frequency Piezoelectric Actuator for Cantilever Beams: Design, Modeling, and Experimental Evaluation

Using piezoelectric actuators to drive cantilever beam structures under low frequency is promising for solving high-precision control of high-end equipment. This paper presents an innovative piezoelectric actuator based on a d33 mode piezoelectric stack. It consists of the piezoelectric stack as the output force element and the sleeve as the protecting element to cater to the characteristic of piezoceramics: considerable ultimate stress, but significantly cannot withstand shearing force. The connectors effectively utilize higher piezoelectric coefficients ( d33 mode piezoceramics) to provide a bending moment that causes the cantilever beam to vibrate. The maximum amplitude is 11.35 mm while the driving voltage is 150 V and the waveform is consistent with the excitation signal. The piezoelectric actuator proposed in this paper is capable of achieving high-precision, low-frequency driving cantilever beam structures for high-end equipment.