Development of a Low Cost High-Speed on/Off Digital Valve Using a Bimorph PZT Actuator

Abstract

In the previous paper based on this study, the authors proposed a high-speed ON/OFF digital valve driven by a laminated piezoelectric (PZT) actuator. One drawback of this digital valve was that the PZT actuator could not produce enough displacement in order to actuate the main valve. Additionally, it may be pointed out that the laminated PZT actuator is considerably expensive for general consumer use. In this study, for the purpose of overcoming such drawbacks, an improved type of high-speed digital valve was developed by adopting a bimorph PZT actuator in place of a laminated actuator. The bimorph PZT is cost-effective to produce and can realize a large displacement; the valve will be financially practical and capable of high performance. To actuate the spool valve, a nozzle-and-flapper mechanism was adopted in the proposed valve. The static and dynamic characteristics of the new device were investigated by experiment and digital simulation. As a result, we found that the valve could be driven by frequencies of a PWM carrier wave as high as 200 Hz.

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