Miniaturized piezoelectric actuator operating in bending hybrid modes

• A miniaturized piezoelectric actuator operating in bending hybrid modes is proposed.
• Its dimensions can be adjusted freely to satisfy demands of space, speed or thrust.
• It has quite easy design and fabrication process.
• The transverse displacements of the feet are used for the actuating.
• Maximum speed and thrust of 392 mm/s and 1.2 N are achieved under a weight of 7.0 g.

A novel miniaturized piezoelectric actuator operating in bending hybrid modes is reported in this work. It provides a way to reduce the size of piezoelectric actuator and shows potential application in small system. We use two orthogonal 1st bending modes of a symmetrical beam to produce elliptical movements on two driving feet; therefore, the design and fabrication process of the proposed piezoelectric actuator is quite easy. The side surfaces of the end tips are selected as the driving parts as the bending vibration can generate higher transverse displacement, which means that the axial movement of the end tip is unused as its lower amplitude. Parameters of the prototype is as follow: length of 34 mm, cross section of 10.5 mm × 10.5 mm, weight of 7.0 g, working frequency of 54.2 kHz, maximum no-load speed of 392 mm/s and maximum thrust of 1.2 N.