The present paper discusses how to reduce the applied electric potential which controls a distribution of the elastic displacement, when temperature change induces elastic deformation in a piezoelectric-based solid state actuator. The actuator consists of an isotropic structural plate, onto which multiple piezoelectric ceramic plates of crystal class 6mm are perfectly bonded. The analysis of this thermoelastic problem leads to electric potential applied to piezoelectric ceramic plates. Numerical calculations are carried out for an isotropic steel plate, onto which multiple cadmium-selenide plates are perfectly bonded. Finally, it is shown that the maximum applied electric potential in the case of ten cadmium selenide plates can be reduced to 11% of that derived from the previous study of a similar problem of one cadmium selenide plate bonded onto an isotropic steel plate.
IntroductionDisplacement-control unit accurate to submicron is required in the areas of optics, astronomy and super precision machining. In controlling such a microscopic displacement, elastic deformation in the actuator induced by change of the temperature should be estimated, because it is very dif®cult to strictly maintain the thermal conditions of the surrounding medium. Now, piezoelectric materials possess a coupling effect between elastic and electric ®elds. Recent interest in the use of such piezoelectric materials as sensors and/or actuators operating in thermal environments is evidenced by some publications [1±12].The concept of utilizing a piezoelectric ceramic plate as an actuator controlling thermoelastic displacement was examined in [7±9]. The actuator was constructed of an isotropic structural plate, onto which a piezoelectric ceramic plate of crystal class 6mm was perfectly bonded. When heating temperature acted on the bottom surface, and then the combined plate was deformed, the applied electric potential on the top surface was derived which gave the prescribed distribution of normal elastic displacement on the bottom surface. It was shown numerically that the applied electric potential was very high. This presents a serious problem for practical applications of this actuator, and it must be solved. A solution to the problem is to lay other piezoelectric ceramic plates on the top of the combined plate.In order to reduce the applied electric potential, the present paper deals with displacement control of an isotropic structural plate onto which multiple piezoelectric ceramic plates of crystal class 6mm are perfectly bonded. This thermoelastic problem is analyzed by means of the potential function method, and the applied electric potential is derived. Numerical results are obtained for the temperatures, stresses and applied electric potential in an isotropic steel plate, onto which multiple cadmium selenide plates of crystal class 6mm are perfectly bonded. The effects of the number and thicknesses of the cadmium-selenide plates on the stresses and applied electric potential are investigated. As compared with the numerical results, ...