A Development of Miniaturized Piezoelectric Actuator System for Mobile Smart Structures

Abstract

A smart material actuator is required for a smart structure having multifunctional performance. Among the smart material actuators, piezoelectric actuator is known for its excellent large force generation in broad bandwidth in a compact size. However it needs relatively large actuation voltage requiring a bulky hardware system. This study is mainly concerned to develop a self-powered miniaturized piezoelectric actuator driver (MIPAD) controlled by a radio controller for small sized piezoelectric smart structures. It can receive command from other microprocessors or a remote radio controller. We designed a real hardware and it demonstrated good performances even though the driving system was very small. The MIPAD is expected to minimize the weight and size of the piezoelectric actuator system and it can be easily embedded into mobile smart structures.