Characterization of a piezoelectric valve for an adaptive pneumatic shock absorber

Abstract

This paper describes a pneumatic valve based on a multilayer piezoelectric actuator and Hörbiger plates. The device was designed to operate in an adaptive pneumatic shock absorber. The adaptive pneumatic shock absorber was considered as a piston-cylinder device and the valve was intended to be installed inside the piston. The main objective for the valve application was regulating the gas flow between the cylinder's chambers in order to maintain the desired value of the reaction force generated by the shock absorber. The paper describes the design constraints and requirements, together with results of analytical modelling of fluid flow verified versus experimentally obtained data. The presented results indicate that the desired performance characteristics of the valve were obtained. The geometrical constraints of the flow ducts were studied and the actuator's functional features analysed.

Pneumatic Adaptive Absorber: Mathematical Modelling with Experimental Verification

“…The flow is assumed to be an adiabatic process (there is no heat exchange between the gas and the walls of the valve but the mechanical losses are considered [19]). The flow losses are described with the discharge coefficient treated as a characteristic design parameter of the valve [32].…”

“…Recent developments in functional materials technology allow us to consider a novel approach to adaptive pneumatic shock absorber with utilization of a piezoelectric material for actuation of the device. A piezoelectric multilayered actuator is applied in a miniature valve positioned in the pneumatic cylinder piston [19]. In this paper we focus on mathematical modelling of the cylindrical pneumatic shock absorber with a controlled flow between the internal volumes.…”

Semi‐active reduction of vibrations in the mechanical system driven by an electric motor

“…Although many vibration‐damping techniques exist, very few of them are addressed specifically to the topic of systems under such oscillations. Semi‐active control is a particularly appealing way of an implementation of the (ubiquitous in nature) paradigm of a smart adaptation in the area of structural and machine engineering . Potential application ranges from the adaptive landing gears of aircrafts, through the motor‐vehicle suspensions, and the drivetrain systems to semi‐active damping of the bridge suspensions .…”

“…Semi-active control is a particularly appealing way of an implementation of the (ubiquitous in nature) paradigm of a smart adaptation in the area of structural and machine engineering. 30,31 Potential application ranges from the adaptive landing gears of aircrafts, 32 through the motor-vehicle suspensions, 14,33,34 and the drivetrain systems 35 to semi-active damping of the bridge suspensions. 36 Concluding, we emphasize that it is very hard to find in the widely available literature any publications on active or semi-active control of periodically vibrating mechanical systems in steady-state operating conditions.…”

Vibration analysis for vehicle with Vacuum Packed Particles suspension

“…At the moment, thanks to advances in measurement technology and microprocessor control, the development of a new generation of smart materials may lead to wide implementation of concepts of semi-active damping systems into everyday life. Especially interesting in this field seems to be application of technology based on the properties of the so called 'intelligent' materials including magnetorheological (MR) (Zalewski and Pyrz, 2013) electrorheological (ER) (Skup, 2009) and piezoelectric materials (Mikulowski et al, 2013). In this paper, the authors would like to focus on the new type of smart structures -Vacuum Packed Particles (VPP) (Zalewski and Pyrz, 2013).…”