Parametric Investigation of the Deflection Performance of Serial Piezoelectric C-Block Actuators

This paper presents an investigation of the deflection performance of serial configurations of C-block piezoelectric actuators. To conduct the investigation both a theoretical and an experimental approach were used. A theoretical model was derived and experimentally verified with six different case studies. These experimental case studies were used to explore the effect on the deflection performance by modifying the geometric, material, and configuration parameters. The results demonstrate the wide versatility possible with serial C-block actuation architectures.