Experimental Study on the Performance of a Bidirectional Hybrid Piezoelectric-Hydraulic Actuator

The piezoelectric-hydraulic actuator is a hybrid device that consists of a hydraulic pump driven by a piezo-stack coupled to a conventional hydraulic cylinder. The actuator is of compact size, but can produce a moderate energy output. Such hybrid actuators are currently being researched and developed in many industrialized countries due to the requirement for high performance and compact flight systems. In a previous study, we designed and manufactured a unidirectional hybrid actuator. However, the blocking force was not as high as expected. Therefore, in this study, we redesigned the pump chamber and hydraulic cylinder and also improved the system by removing the air bubbles. Two different types of piezo-stacks were used. In order to achieve bidirectional capabilities in the actuator, commercial solenoid valves were used to control the direction of the output cylinder. Experimental testing of the actuator in unidirectional and bidirectional modes was performed to examine performance issues related to driving frequency, bias pressure, reed valve thickness, etc. The results showed that the maximum blocking force was measured as 970.2N when the frequency was 185Hz.