Piezoelectric Actuator Applications - Status 2018

Abstract:
Piezoelectric actuators became a mature technology during the last 30 years of the ACTUATOR conference, mainly in high tech applications. This is because they have several advantageous properties compared to other, more conventional driving technologies, such as very dynamic movement ability, unlimited displacement resolution, high inducible and load forces, low energy consumption in static operation, bidirectional conversion and compact design. The main disadvantage, the limited displacement of these solid state actuators, can be overcome by amplification mechanisms or motor principles. The paper reviews the state of the art of industrial as well as research piezo actuator applications. It is arranged according to these main application properties: Why the piezo was chosen as driving element? In this way the contribution reflects that it is very essential to check the conformance between the requested characteristic in the application and the piezo actuator core properties at the beginning of new projects to increase the success rate.