• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.250-253
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• 2004

This study deals with the microvalve, which is composed of the multilayer bender type PZT actuator, actuator controller and microvalve body. The object of this study is to develope the microvalve with multilayer bender type PZT actuator. In order to achieve this object, prototype PZT actuator and microvalve were suggested and manufactured. Also, the performance of this model was evaluated through the experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.225-228
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• 2003

A Bender typed Multilayer Actuator(BMA) for decreasing the depolarization effect was designed and fabricated. Unlike bimorph and multimorph actuators in which depolarization occurred, the BMA did not generate depolarization because the polarization and the electric field directions are the same. The simulated results indicate that higher displacement of the BMA can be achieved by increasing input voltage. Compared with the multimorph actuator, the proposed actuator is expected to extend a life time as well as acceptable voltage range.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.979-984
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• 2007

This paper presents a new control mechanism for the proportional pressure control which is accomplished by electro-pneumatic regulator using two PZT actuators. The electro-pneumatic regulator of this study is 2-stage type and consists of two piezoelectric actuators, a controller and a main poppet valve. The piezoelectric actuators are multilayer bender type and are controlled by digital signal. Proportional pressure control technique is very important because that can derive improvement of product quality and driving ability in the pneumatic system. Solenoid actuator method for pressure control is widely used but this actuator has a high power consumption characteristics. So new actuator is required for the energy saving. In this study, PZT actuator for the pressure control was fabricated and experimented instead of the conventional type solenoid actuator. Experiments for the new control mechanism of the elector-pneumatic regulator were operated under the input condition of 0.4[MPa] and it was confirmed that this mechanism has a good control characteristics to the response sensitivity and hysteresis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07b
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• pp.802-805
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• 2004

압전 액츄에이터는 다른 종류의 액츄에이터와 비교할 때 높은 강성, 빠른 응답성의 우수한 특성을 가지고 있다. 벤더형 액츄에이터는 높은 변위의 장점을 가지나 높은 전기장과 기계적 부하인가시에는 내부 응력이 증가하므로서 신뢰성이 감소한다는 단점을 가지고 있다. 이러한 단점을 보완하기 위하여 여러 방법으로 내부 응력을 줄이려는 시도가 있으며 그중 하나는 경사기능 소재나 경사기능 구조를 가지는 액츄에이터의 개발이다. 본 연구에서는 경사기능 특성을 모사한 액츄에이터 구조를 제작하고 그 특성을 조사하였다. 두 가지의 압전상수 d31= - 220 pC/N, d31 =- 100 pC/N를 가지는 세라믹층을 적층하여 벤더형 액츄에이터의 특성을 관찰하였다. 그 결과 두 종류의 세라믹층으로 적층한 액츄에이터가 한가지 특성의 세라믹으로 제작한 액츄에이터 보다 전압인가시 20%이상의 우수한 변위 특성을 나타내었다. 이러한 변화는 내부 응력의 감소에 기인한 것으로 예상된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.246-250
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• 2003

In this study, two new types of micro-grippers in which micro-fingers are actuated by piezoelectric multi-layer benders and stacks are introduced for the manipulation of micrometer-sized objects. First, we constructed a 3-chopstick-mechanism tungsten gripper, which is composed of three chopsticks: two are designed to grip micro-objects, and tile third is used to help grasp and release the objects through overcoming especially electrostatic force among some surface effects including electrostatic, van der Waals forces and surface tension. Second, a 2-chopstick-mechanism silicon micro-gripper that uses an integrated force sensor to control the gripping force was developed. The micro-gripper is composed of a piezoelectric multilayer bender for actuating the gripper fingers, silicon fingertips fabricated by use of silicon-based micromachining, and supplementary supports. The micro-gripper is referred to as a hybrid-type micro-gripper because it is composed of two main components; micro-fingertips fabricated using micromachining technology to integrate a very sensitive force sensor for measuring the gripping force, and piezoelectric gripper finger actuators that are capable of large gripping forces and moving strokes. The gripping force signal was found to have a sensitivity of 667 N/V. To the design of each of components of both of the grippers. a systematic design approach was applied, which made it possible to establish the functional requirements and design parameters of the micro-grippers. The micro-grippers were installed on a manual manipulator to assess its performance in tasks such as moving micro-objects from one position to a desired position. The experiment showed that the micro-grippers function effectively.