Independent driving method for significant hysteresis reduction of piezoelectric stack actuators

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Control Systems

Background:

• Piezoelectric actuators are crucial for precision positioning.
• Hysteresis in piezoelectric ceramics causes significant positioning errors.
• Traditional parallel driving of piezoelectric stack actuators (PSAs) amplifies hysteresis due to layer accumulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel independent driving method for PSAs.
• To mitigate the nonlinear deformation caused by hysteresis in PSAs.
• To enhance the positioning accuracy of precision platforms.

Main Methods:

• Developed an independent driving logic for sequential layer activation in PSAs.
• Designed a driving circuit to implement the independent driving method without altering original signals.
• Conducted experiments on a seven-layer PSA to compare performance against traditional parallel driving.

Main Results:

• Reduced PSA hysteresis from approximately 12.5% to 2.7% at various frequencies.
• Demonstrated significant hysteresis reduction compared to traditional parallel driving.
• Achieved good linearity in open-loop control.

Conclusions:

• The independent driving method effectively minimizes hysteresis in PSAs.
• This approach enhances linearity and positioning accuracy for precision applications.
• The method obviates the need for high-performance sensors or hysteresis models in open-loop control.