A Piezoelectric Stick-Slip Actuator Utilizing an Asymmetric Inertial Driving Foot: Design, Analysis and Experiments

In this paper, a small, simple and compact bidirectional linear piezoelectric stick-slip actuator (PSSA) capable of realizing high-speed drive at low frequencies is proposed. Based on the stick-slip driving principle and the lever-type displacement amplification mechanism using asymmetric inertial driving foot structure to drive the slider to generate motion, the output performance of the piezoelectric actuator is improved. In this work, the structural design and working principle of the actuator are described in detail, and the amplification ratio of the flexible amplification mechanism is calculated and the structural parameters are optimized through theoretical analysis and finite element simulation analysis. Finally, a prototype is fabricated and tested to characterize the output performance in terms of driving voltage, driving frequency, output speed and load capacity. The test results show that the maximum output speed of the actuator is 5.01mm/s, the maximum horizontal load and resolution are 70g and 125nm, respectively, in addition, the actuator has a better bidirectional driving performance, the forward and reverse motion accuracy is 80nm. The comparison of the performance of the actuator with the existing bidirectional actuator reflects the advantages of the proposed actuator in output performance.