Piezo Bender Actuators

The BA family of bender actuators are piezoelectric bimorph actuators poled in the parallel configuration. An insulated resin coating is applied to the external surfaces to protect the actuator and to eliminate electrical faults. The actuators can be wired in a three-wire or two-wire configuration as illustrated below.

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Specifications

Notes:

1. Capacitance of both sides in parallel. This value should be used for calculating the required current in the three-wire or parallel configuration. Tolerance is +/-30%

Electrical Connection

The three wire configuration requires a +150V amplifier with a +150V bias supply.

The recommended driver is a BD150 Module. The +150V bias voltage is achieved by configuring channel 2 in inverting mode and grounding the input. A 0V to +3V input is applied to input 1 to control the bender.

A zero volt input results in +150V across the top piezo layer and maximum upward deflection. A +3V input results in +150V across the bottom piezo layer and maximum downward deflection. The deflection δ can be represented by
$$\delta = \frac{V_{in} – 1.5}{3}\delta_{pp}$$

where $\delta_{pp}$ is the peak-to-peak displacement of the bender, and $V_{in}$ has the range 0V to 3V.

Wires can be attached using conductive epoxy (Circuitworks CW2400) or standard solder and Rosin flux. After flux application, a one second contact with a 300C iron is recommended. The positive terminal is indicated by a red stripe.

Mounting

Bimorph actuators can be mounted with a soft clamp or bonded to a base using an adhesive such as Araldite. The longest life time is achieved when soft materials such as rubber are used at the clamping surface. The recommended clamping length is 2mm for for the BA3502 and 5mm for other sizes.

Lifetime

The expected lifetime for a 10% failure rate is 500,000 cycles with full-range deflection. The load force and deflection must be kept within specifications.

Electrical Current Requirements

Power Bandwidth Calculator

The required current is \( I = C \frac{dV}{dt} \) where \( I \) is the current, \( C \) is the effective capacitance, and \( dV/dt \) is the voltage rate of change. For a sine-wave, the required peak current is equal to: $$ I_p = \pi C f  V_{p-p} $$ where \( V_{p-p} \) is the peak-to-peak voltage. For a triangle wave, the required peak current is equal to: $$ I_p = 2 C f V_{p-p} $$.

Recommended Drivers

Other recommended drivers are listed below.