Guidelines for Sizing a Piezo Actuator

The feasibility of a planned application can be roughly assessed by comparing the application requirements with the characteristics of piezo stacks. The two most important performance parameters are displacement and force. The size of the piezo stack directly influences these two key performance parameters: displacement and force.

• The force-generating capability is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the piezo stack.
  
• The displacement is proportional to the length of the piezo stack.

The capacitance C C and the maximum operating voltage U U are the most important electrical parameters. The voltage applies to a series, while the capacitance directly depends on the size of the stack. Below is a table showing typical characteristics of piezo stacks.

Comparison of requirements with performance data

Before designing your application, you can use the characteristics of the delivery program as an initial reference and compare your requirements with the performance data:

Analysis of a concept for a solution with piezo stacks in three steps 

Select stack dimensions

Sizing and selection of the power supply (peak current, average current or power, thermal management)

Integration (enclosure, preloading, interfaces)

Identifikation des Lastfalles

Identify the load case now and select the load-displacement type that best reflects your case. Analyze the requirements for the piezo to derive the corresponding measures. Choose the force curve that best matches your application and click on the graph for further details.