Design and experiment of a piezoelectric actuator based on inchworm working principle

A piezoelectric ceramics (PZT) inchworm actuator is designed and tested in this work. The proposed actuator is mainly composed of a driving mechanism and two clamping mechanisms. The dynamical model of the actuator is established with considering the output nonlinearity of the PZT. The friction between the baffle and the clamping claw is calculated based on the fractal theory, and the slipping phenomenon is researched. The effects of the driving frequency, the voltage, and the stiffness of the flexible hinge on performances of the actuator are researched based on the dynamical model. The prototype is manufactured, and the experiment results verify the validity of the dynamical model and the designing scheme. The fabricated actuator achieves a maximum speed of 0.72 mm/s and a maximum displacement of 11 mm. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.