Piezo
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New developments in piezo actuators: Long stroke actuators and high power electronics
19 June 2023
In many cases piezoelectric actuators reach limitations in terms of maximum displacement and cycling frequency. Most amplified actuator technologies struggle to go over the millimeter of stroke. Furthermore certain closed-loop applications demand stroke measurement integrated into the actuator. While few amplifiers on the market can offer 20Amps current over a few 100ms, development of high power supply units runs parallel with actuator improvements. However with the introduction of high power supplies comes the problem of self-heating of the piezo ceramic. Finally extreme environmental conditions in terms of harsh conditions and high temperatures need to be addressed in order to open these markets for piezo actuators. Cedrat Technologies has been heavily investigating in solutions to overcome all of these drawbacks and these solutions are
presented here.
Piezo-composite patches applied to the detection of defects using lamb wave focusing
19 June 2023
Ultrasonic-based SHM (Structural Health Monitoring) applications usually rely on the use of piezo-electric patches to emit and receive ultrasonic surface acoustic waves. The principle is to study the propagation of the waves through a structure to assess its health. Because of the elevated number of echoes and possible modes of propagation of the acoustic waves within the structure, those applications suffer from a burden of signal processing. This paper presents a composite piezo-electric patch and its electronics that were designed and successfully tested for reducing the complexity of the SHM detection schemes.
Advantages of large piezo actuators and high power drivers for fatigue and fretting test
19 June 2023
Constant expansion of new materials requires fretting or fatigue machines in order to test their failure. In many cases tests must be performed in severe conditions and at high frequency. These requirements come from the use of the materials in highly demanding applications. At the same time it is expected to reduce the time required to characterise such materials. Piezoelectric actuators are more and more common in testing machines, but they still reach limitations in terms of maximum displacement, cycling frequency or power. In order to cope with these issues, Cedrat Technologies has been investigating solutions. In this paper long stroke and high frequency actuators, coupled with powerful driving control are introduced. These actuators are based on piezoelectric materials and can be easily integrated into the fatigue machines. In order to improve precision of these tests, two of the most common displacement sensors used in smart actuators are also presented in this paper.
Testing of amplified piezoelectric actuator in a combined vibration and acceleration
19 June 2023
Sandia National Laboratories has previously tested a capability to impose a 7.5 g-rms (30 g peak) radial vibration load up to 2 kHz on a 25 lb object with superimposed 50 g acceleration at its centrifuge facility. This was accomplished by attaching a 3,000 lb Unholtz-Dickie mechanical shaker at the end of the centrifuge arm to create a “Vibrafuge”. However, the combination of non-radial vibration directions, and linear accelerations higher than 50g’s are currently not possible because of the load capabilities of the shaker and the stresses on the internal shaker components due to the combined centrifuge acceleration.