Design and Experimental Study of a Stepping Piezoelectric Actuator with Large Stroke and High Speed

A stepping piezoelectric actuator is proposed with large stroke and high speed. The piezoelectric actuator consists of two symmetrical stators and a mover. The actuator can operate with a “double-drive, four-clamp” mode. The proposed actuator solves the problems of short stroke, low speed, and small load inherent in the currently published stepping piezoelectric actuators. By combining Workbench software with APDL language, finite element simulation and statics and dynamics analysis are carried out to guide the design of the actuator. The new piezoelectric simulation method can solve the difficulties regarding parameter setting and loading voltage on multiple interfaces for a complex piezoelectric model. Therefore, the novel method is helpful to develop the simulation of multilayer thin piezoelectric devices. The prototype of the actuator is developed and tested. Experimental results show that the actuator can run stably in the range of 0 to 600 Hz. The driving stroke is greater than 85 mm, the resolution can reach 535 nm, the maximum driving speed is 6.11 mm/s, and the maximum load is 49 N.