An inertial piezoelectric actuator with small structure but large loading capacity

For inertial piezoelectric actuators, there generally exists a contradiction between the structure size and loading capacity, i.e., large loading capacity requiring a large structure size. To address this issue, a novel inertial piezoelectric rotary actuator with the size of 30 × 30 × 30 mm3 was proposed. Its structure and working principle were discussed in detail, followed by characterizing its output performances under various driving voltages, frequencies, and vertical loads. The results indicated that this actuator achieved good forward and reverse motion consistency. Under 100 V, it obtained the maximum angular speed of 302 007 µrad/s at about 600 Hz; especially, at 10 Hz, its vertical loading capacity was over 6700 g, being significantly higher than many previous inertial actuators with the similar size.