A smooth impact drive mechanism (SIDM) is one type of piezoelectric actuator that has been put into practical use. In previous SIDMs, soft-type multilayered piezoelectric elements with low mechanical quality factors were utilized, which meant it was difficult to generate high output power, and the multilayered structure was an obstacle to further miniaturization. We have proposed a resonant-typ...

In this research, a new approach is proposed to enhance the authority of piezoelectric actuators without the trade off between force and stroke. Through mechanical tailoring, the resonance frequencies of the actuator system can be tuned to the required actuation frequencies. This obviously will increase the authority (both stroke and force) of the actuator. However, resonant actuators could be ...

Migration of ions under electric field is the phenomenon behind the mechanical deformation of ionic polymer actuators. This transport process is influenced by numerous factors depending on the physical, chemical and electrical properties of the material used [1]. Among them porosity and tortuosity are one of the main influencing factors that modifies ion channels and so the properties of the ma...

Actuator materials can directly convert different types of energy into mechanical energy. In this work, we designed and fabricated electrothermal air pump-type actuators by utilization of various nanostructured carbon materials, including single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), reduced graphene oxide (r-GO), and graphene oxide (GO)/SWCNT hybrid films as heating elements to transfer electrical st...

A pseudo-three-layer electrostatic repulsive out-of-plane actuator is proposed. It combines the advantages of two-layer and three-layer repulsive actuators, i.e., fabrication requirements and fill factor. A theoretical model for the proposed actuator is developed and solved through the numerical calculation of Schwarz-Christoffel mapping. Theoretical and simulated results show that the pseudo-t...

An effective wide band active control law through one kind of the Dynamic Vibration Absorber (DVA) is proposed and studied in this paper. With the help of mechanical impedance method, active DVA control law is formulated based on the passive mechanical model. The electrical DVA can generate multi-mode active damping to the structure. The host structure is an aluminum plate and acceleration sign...

diodes Steven Chuang, Rehan Kapadia, Hui Fang, Ting Chia Chang, Wen-Chun Yen, Yu-Lun Chueh, and Ali Javey Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 947...

The paper presents electrical actuator design considerations introduced by exploiting new magnetic material characteristics. The materials considered are amorphous alloy ribbons as well as neodymium alloy permanent magnets involving very low eddy current losses. Such materials enable electric machine operation at higher frequencies compared with the standard iron laminations used in the traditi...

Applying positive joint torque feedback in direct drive motor systems reduces the eeect of external load torques. This is most beneecial when accurate position tracking is required in the presence of large disturbances or for complex loads as found in robotic manip-ulators. We formulate the problem of torque feedback in the presence of actuator dynamics. The problem of nding the optimal torque ...