An efficient spectral element (SE) with electric potential degrees of freedom (DOF) is proposed to investigate the static electromechanical responses of a piezoelectric bimorph for its actuator and sensor functions. A sublayer model based on the piecewise linear approximation for the electric potential is used to describe the nonlinear distribution of electric potential through the thickness of...

Piezoelectric bimorph actuation has been successfully used in numerous types of microdevices, most notably micropumps. However, even for the simple case of circular geometry, analytical treatments are severely limited. This study utilized the finite-element method to optimize the deflection of a circular bimorph consisting of a single piezoelectric actuator, bonding material and elastic plate o...

Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs) possess continuously graded material properties and are characterized by spatially varying microstructures. The smooth variation of properties may offer advantages such as reduction of stress concentration and increased bonding strength. Recently, this concept has been explored in piezoelectric materials to improve properties and to increase the lifetime of ...

Piezoelectric cantilevers have been in great demand in sensor and actuator applications. The tip displacement of the cantilever is the most important and sensitive parameter in the actuation mode. Hence, in this study a bimorph cantilever beam has been chosen as the element of study consisting of two active piezoelectric layers of PVDF bonded together. An attempt has been made to establish the ...

A piezoelectric bimorph beam, as an upgraded cantilever beam structure, can be used to detect gas content and build a micro-actuator, among other functions. Thus, this beam is widely applied to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), transformers, and precision machinery. For example, when photoacoustic spectroscopy is performed to detect oil-soluble gas in transformers, a micro-cantilever beam ...

In this work, the problem of a curved functionally graded piezoelectric (FGP) actuator with sandwich structure under electrical and thermal loads is investigated. The middle layer in the sandwich structure is functionally graded with the piezoelectric coefficient g31 varying continuously along the radial direction of the curved actuator. Based on the theory of linear piezoelectricity, analytica...

Current models of non-linear electromechanical behaviours of piezoactuators are mostly intended for actuator configurations where the strain of the piezoelectric material is directly used as the linear output. On the other hand, in the design of piezoactuators, there exist non-trivial configurations where the internal strains of the piezoelectric materials manifest externally in the form of ben...

Abstract: Electromechanical coupling defines the ratio of electrical and mechanical energy exchanged during a flexure cycle of a piezoelectric actuator. This paper presents an analysis of the dynamic electromechanical coupling factor (dynamic EMCF) for cantilever based piezoelectric actuators and provides for the first time explicit expressions for calculation of dynamic EMCF based on arrangeme...

This study demonstrates a method for harvesting the electrical power by the piezoelectric actuator from vibration energy. This paper presents the energy harvesting technique using the piezoelectric element of a bimorph type driven by a geared motor and a vibrator. The geared motor is a type of PWM controlled device that is a combination of an oval shape cam with five gears and a speed controlle...

Smart actuators have many potential applications in various areas, so the development of novel actuation materials, with facile fabricating methods and excellent performances, are still urgent needs. In this work, a novel electromechanical bimorph actuator constituted by a graphene layer and a PVDF layer, is fabricated through a simple yet versatile solution approach. The bimorph actuator can d...