A large strain piezoelectric microactuator by folding assembly

In-plane amplification of thin film piezoelectric strain has been previously demonstrated using mechanical flexures fabricated at the micro scale. This new work presents a method by which that amplification can be increased, along with a method to reduce parasitic out of plane bending present in prior designs. Fabricated actuator triplets demonstrated peak unblocked displacement of 15 [mu]m, 3% total contraction by length, with an estimated blocking force of [approx.] -9.2 [mu]N. Methods of arraying one such cell massively in series and in parallel are also presented, with the long term goal of creating a large strain, efficient, and low power macro scale actuator from individual micro scale components.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Traina, Zachary J

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sang Gook Kim.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39890

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39890