Smart actuators with piezoelectric materials
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Abstract
Piezoelectric solid-state actuators continue to gain in technical and economic significance for a great variety of applications such as quick fine-positioning tasks, control of structural stability and active noise and vibration control due to the high driving forces, short reaction times and compact construction of these actuators. Microelectronics and signal processing must be combined intelligently to form `smart actuators' in order to do justice to the growing demand for precision, miniaturization, efficiency and cost. Energy transducers with piezoelectric PZT ceramics (PZT: lead-zirconate-titanate) simultaneously possess actuator and sensor capacities. An important requirement for the construction of smart actuators is fulfilled by separating the sensor information (charge approximately external force) from the actuator control quantities (elongation approximately electric field strength). A closed-loop control structure with digital signal processing and a voltage controlled power amplifier were developed to enable nearly load-independent linearization of the actuator's response characteristic (elongation-voltage curve) even under dynamic operating conditions by making use of the `self-sensing' effect and without using extra force or displacement sensors. The effectiveness of the developed approach for realizing smart actuators was verified and specified with the help of a computerized large-signal measurement set-up using a low-voltage piezoelectric ceramic stack as an example.