Efficiency characteristics of piezostack pump for linear actuators

A piezostack pump for linear actuators is presented and studied in terms of mechanical energy efficiency (MEE), energy conversion efficiency (ECE) and design method. MEE is defined as the ratio of the output mechanical energy to that converted from input electrical energy, and ECE is the ratio of output mechanical energy to input electrical energy. The analysis results show that both MEE and ECE decrease with the increase of stiffness of the chamber diaphragm (k_s), which is a function of the radius ratio (rigid disk radius to chamber radius). There is respective optimal external load (F_c) for them to achieve peak value for a given piezostack with blocked force (F_b) and stiffness (k_a). The optimal force ratio (F_c/F_b) is a constant of 0.5 for maximum MEE, and between 0.57 and 0.5 for maximum ECE. Considering the deflection of the pump chamber and dynamic response of the piezostack, the stiffness ratio (k_s/k_a) should be limited between 0.3 and 1, and the relative radius ratio is between 0.7 and 0.8. With the increase of the radius ratio in the range, the maximal MEE decreases from 0.38 to 0.25, and the peak ECE decreases from 0.20 to 0.14.