Direct drive servovalves actuated by amplified piezo-stacks: Assessment through a detailed numerical analysis

Paolo Tamburrano, Elia Distaso, Andrew R. Plummer, Francesco Sciatti, Pietro De Palma, Riccardo Amirante

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

This paper presents a feasibility study using commercially available amplified piezostacks for the direct actuation of four-way three-position (4/3) direct drive servovalves. The prospect of using amplified piezo-stacks in place of linear force motors is very attractive by virtue of their fast response speed and low weight. Piezo-stacks equipped with mechanical amplification systems can give levels of displacement suitable for this application. A very effective amplification system has recently been produced by some manufacturers and is based on a temperature-independent diamond structure. This paper details simulations of a 4/3 servovalve directly actuated by such a piezoelectric actuator with a diamond structure. To this end, well-established equations, implemented in Simulink by means of the libraries of Simscape Fluids, are used. The proposed architecture shows simplicity of construction; in addition, very good step response speed and frequency response are predicted by the simulations.

Original languageEnglish
Article number156
JournalActuators
Volume10
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by the European Commission under the Marie Curie IntraEuropean fellowship Programme. EC Grant Agreement no. 701336, H2020 MSCA Individual Fellowship: Development of a novel servovalve concept for aircraft (DNSVCFA).

Funding

This research was supported by the European Commission under the Marie Curie IntraEuropean fellowship Programme. EC Grant Agreement no. 701336, H2020 MSCA Individual Fellowship: Development of a novel servovalve concept for aircraft (DNSVCFA).

Keywords

  • Amplified piezo-stack
  • Direct drive
  • Servovalve

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Control and Optimization

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