Reliable Piezo Motion Devices For Industrial And Space Applications

Piezo ceramics convert electrical energy directly into mechanical motion and vice versa, based on crystalline solid state effects. Piezo actuators are quite unique in combining force, speed and precise motion into a small package. To make them more accessible for OEM designers, manufacturers can package the actuators inside an arrangement of flexures providing precision guidance, amplified motion along with a simple mounting interface. Flexures are usually made of aluminum, steel or titanium. With the absence of friction and wear, they can provide 10’s of to 100’s of billions of cycles of maintenance-free service. Piezo motion devices allow position changes to be made in milliseconds or even microseconds and with precision down to sub-nanometers without difficulty. Piezo actuators (not to be confused with piezo motors) provide motion output proportional to a drive voltage – usually up to one millimeter and high dynamics with frequencies in the hundreds to thousands of Hz. There is no mechanical wear and no frictional parts to limit resolution: perfect conditions for many precision motion and positioning applications in industry, life sciences, microscopy, medical engineering and in space.