A piezoelectric stick-slip linear actuator with a rhombus-type flexure hinge mechanism by means of parasitic motion.

In order to obtain the high velocity in compact size, a piezoelectric stick-slip linear actuator is proposed in this paper. The proposed actuator adopts rhombus-type flexure hinge mechanism which can be used as a displacement amplifier which can easily produce a parasitic motion. The working principle of the proposed actuator is discussed, and the finite element method is adopted to verify the generation of parasitic motion of the flexure hinge mechanism. A prototype is manufactured to investigate the working performance. The prototype achieves a maximum velocity of 13.08 mm/s at a frequency of 570 Hz under the sawtooth wave exciting voltage of 100 Vp-p. The maximum efficiency is about 1.26% with a load of 135 g and velocity of 7.12 mm/s.