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FLEXTENSIONAL PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATORS CONSIST OF A PIEZOCERAMIC (OR A STACK OF PIEZOCERAMICS) CONNECTED TO A FLEXIBLE MECHANICAL STRUCTURE THAT CONVERTS AND AMPLIFIES THE OUTPUT DISPLACEMENT OF THE PIEZOCERAMIC. THE ACTUATOR PERFORMANCE DEPENDS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF STIFFNESS AND FLEXIBILITY IN THE COUPLING STRUCTURE DOMAIN, WHICH IS RELATED TO THE COUPLING STRUCTURE TOPOLOGY. BY DESIGNING OTHER TYPES OF COUPLING STRUCTURES CONNECTED TO THE PIEZOCERAMIC, WE CAN OBTAIN NOVEL TYPES OF FLEXTENSIONAL TRANSDUCERS WITH ENHANCED PERFORMANCE. IN THIS WORK, WE PROPOSE A METHOD FOR DESIGNING FLEXTENSIONAL ACTUATORS BY APPLYING TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUE BASED ON THE HOMOGENIZATION DESIGN METHOD, WHICH CONSISTS OF FINDING THE OPTIMAL MATERIAL DISTRIBUTION IN A PERFORATED DESIGN DOMAIN WITH INFINITE MICROSCALE VOIDS. THE PROBLEM IS POSED AS THE DESIGN OF A FLEXIBLE STRUCTURE COUPLED TO THE PIEZOCERAMIC THAT MAXIMIZES THE OUTPUT DISPLACEMENTS IN A SPECIFIED DIRECTION AND POINT OF THE DOMAIN. SINCE COMPLEX TOPOLOGIES ARE EXPECTED, THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD IS USED FOR TRANSDUCER MODELING. ONLY STATIC AND LOW-FREQUENCY APPLICATIONS ARE CONSIDERED. AS A RESULT, DESIGNS OF FLEXTENSIONAL ACTUATORS ARE PRESENTED.
KEYWORDS: TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION, HOMOGENIZATION DESIGN METHOD, FLEXTENSIONAL ACTUATORS, PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATORS, FINITE ELEMENT |
