A New Topological Optimization Method for the Mechanical and Control-Oriented Design of Compliant Piezoelectric Devices

1. Abstract This paper presents a new method developed for the optimal design of piezoactive compliant mechanisms. It is based on a flexible building blocks method, called FlexIn, which uses an evolutionary approach, to optimize a truss-like structure made of passive and active piezoelectric building blocks. An electromechanical approach, based on a mixed finite element method, is used to establish the model of the piezoelectric blocks. A planar monolithic compliant micro-actuator is synthesized by the optimization method, based on the specifications drawn from both mechanical and innovative control-oriented considerations. In particular, these last criteria have been drawn here to optimize modal controllability and observability of the system, which is particularly interesting when considering identification and control of flexible structures.