Impact drive rotary precision actuator with piezoelectric bimorphs

An impact drive rotary precision actuator with end-loaded piezoelectric cantilever bimorphs is proposed. According to finite element analysis and experiments of the dynamic characteristics of end-loaded piezoelectric cantilever bimorphs, a specific fixed-frequency and adjustable-amplitude is confirmed to control the actuator. The results show that an actuator excited by fixed-frequency and the adjustable-amplitude ramp voltage waveform works with a large travel range (180°), high resolution (1 μrad), speed (0.2 rad/min) and heavy-load ability (0.02 Nm). With advantages of high-precision positioning ability, simple structure and only one percent the cost of traditional impact drive mechanisms, the actuator is expected to be widely used in precision industries. © 2008 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag.