Publications

Deflection control of a corner-supported plate using segmented in-plane actuators

Sumali, Hartono S.; Massad, Jordan M.; Chaplya, Pavel M.; Martin, Jeffrey W.

This paper describes an array of in-plane piezoelectric actuator segments laminated onto a comer-supported substrate to create a thin bimorph for reflector applications. An electric field distribution over the actuator segments causes the segments to expand or contract, thereby effecting plate deflection. To achieve a desired bimorph shape, the shape is first expressed as a two-dimensional series expansion. Then, using coefficients from the series expansion, an inverse problem is solved that determines the electric field distribution realizing the desired plate shape. A static example is presented where the desired deflection shape is a paraboloid. Copyright © 2004 by ASME.