Mechanical and energetic characteristics of an energy harvesting type piezoelectric ultrasonic actuator. (1st August 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Guangqing; Tan, Jiangping; Zhao, Zexiang; Cui, Sujuan; Wu, Haiqiang
• Is Part Of: Mechanical systems and signal processing. Volume 128(2019)
• Page Start: 110
• Page End: 125
• Publication Date: 2019-08-01
• Subjects: Piezoelectric ultrasonic actuator -- Mechanical characteristic -- Energetic characteristic -- Vibration energy harvesting -- Optimized design; Structural dynamics -- Periodicals; Vibration -- Periodicals; Constructions -- Dynamique -- Périodiques; Vibration -- Périodiques; Structural dynamics; Vibration; Periodicals; 621
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ymssp.2019.03.029
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0888-3270

Abstract

Highlights: An energy harvesting type piezoelectric ultrasonic actuator (H-PUA) is proposed. It can harvest the stator vibration energy and covert it into electric energy. Numerical and experimental research on its mechanical and energetic characteristics. The mechanical characteristics such as the no-load speed and stalling torque reach 112 rpm and 0.78 Nm, respectively. The harvesting output power of a sector area reaches 54 mW, which can power some low-power electric devices. Abstract: Piezoelectric ultrasonic actuators (PUA) are fascinating and precision-controlled actuators in some mechatronics systems. This study proposed an energy harvesting type piezoelectric ultrasonic actuator (H-PUA) and investigated its mechanical and energetic characteristics. The proposed H-PUA has a sandwich-type stator composed of a metal body, an exciting piezoelectric (PZT) ring and a harvesting PZT ring. The exciting PZT ring bonded on the bottom surface of the stator was used to produce a traveling wave, and the harvesting PZT ring bonded on the top surface of the stator was used to harvest the vibration-induced energy of the stator and convert it into electric energy. Sensitivity analysis method was used to optimize the stator structure. Finite element analysis using ANSYS software was performed for both the mechanical and energetic characteristics of the new actuator. A prototype H-PUA was fabricated and subsequently used to test the mechanical and energetic characteristics. When the rotor torque is zero and the pre-pressure is 100 N, the prototype H-PUA has mechanical output characteristics of no-load speed 112 rpm and stalling torque 0.78 Nm when the exciting voltage amplitude is 152 V0−p with frequency 36.0 kHz. The maximum harvesting output power of a sector area of the harvesting PZT ring reaches 54 mW when it is connected to an optimized load resistance 11 kΩ. Experiments have shown that the harvesting output energy can fully meet with the power supply demands of some low-power (i.e., mW/μW level) mechatronics systems, such as LED.