• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.126-129
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• 2001

LIPCA (LIghtweight Piezo-composite Curved Actuator) is an actuator device which is lighter than other conventional piezoelectric ceramic type actuator. LIPCA is composed of a piezoelectric ceramic layer and fiber reinforced light composite layers, typically a PZT ceramic layer is sandwiched by a top fiber layer with low CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) and base layers with high CTE. LIPCA has curved shape like a typical THUNDER (thin-layer composite unimorph feroelectric driver and sensor), but it is lighter an than THUNDER. Since the curved shape of LIPCA is from the thermal deformation during the manufacturing process of unsymmetrically laminated lay-up structure, an analysis for the thermal deformation and residual stresses induced during the manufacturing process is very important for an optimal design to increase the performance of LIPCA. To investigate the thermal deformation behavior and the induced residual stresses of LIPCA at room temperature, the curvatures of LIPCA were measured and compared with those predicted from the analysis using the classical lamination theory. A methodology is being studied to find an optimal stacking sequence and geometry of LIPCA to have larger specific actuating displacement and higher force. The residual stresses induced during the cooling process of the piezo-composite actuators have been calculated. A lay-up geometry for the PZT ceramic layer to have compression stress in the geometrical principal direction has been designed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1332-1336
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• 2005

It could make the LIghtweight Piezoelectric Composite Actuator (LIPCA) damageable by the cyclic large deformation. If the progressive microvoid coalescence of LIPCA interlaminar took place, the decrease of the stiffness and the weakness of stress transmission and fiber bridging effect would make the fatigue characteristics worse suddenly. Therefore, it is required to study the variation of fatigue behavior and interlaminar condition in LIPCA under resonant frequencies. These studies such as the changeable fatigue phase and interlaminar behavior of LIPCA affected by the resonant frequencies should be carried out due to the strong anisotropy of CFRP layer. Hence, these studies are as follows. 1) The residual stresses distribution of interlaminar in LIPCA using the Classical Lamination Theory (CLT). 2) Comparative analysis of interlaminar behavior for the intact LIPCA versus LIPCA containing an artificial delamination during resonant frequency.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4 s.23
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• pp.130-135
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• 2005

This paper presents application possibility of Lightweight Piezoceramic Composite Actuator(LIPCA) to suppress vibration of dynamic structures as an actuator. LIPCA is composed of a piezoelectric layer, a carbon/epoxy layer and glass/epoxy layers. When compared to the bare piezoelectric ceramic(PZT), LIPCA has advantages such as high performance, durability and reliability. In this study, performances of LIPCA have been estimated in an active vibration control system. Experiments were performed on an aluminum beam with cantilever configuration. In this test, strain gages and single LIPCA are attached on the aluminum beam with epoxy resin. Digital ON-OFF control algorithm is applied into the system to exhibit performance of LIPCA as actuator in active vibration control system. First, we performed static actuation test of bare PZT and LIPCA in order to show the superiority of LIPCA. Secondly, we carried out beam vibration control test using LIPCA. The results showed LIPCA could suppress free vibration of the aluminum beam, which means that LIPCA can be applied as an actuator to control vibration of dynamic structures.

• Composites Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2003

This paper is concerned with the performance evaluation and comparison analysis fur several kinds of LIPCA (Lightweight Piezo-Composite Actuator) device system. LIPCA device system is composed of a piezoelectric ceramic layer and fiber reinforced light composite layers, typically a PZT ceramic layer was sandwiched by a top fiber layer with low CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) and base layers with high CTE. To investigate the effect of lay-up structure of the LIPCA on the actuating performance, four kinds of actuator with different lay-up stacking sequence were designed, manufactured, and tested. The performance of each actuator was evaluated using an actuator test system consisted of an actuator supporting jig, a high voltage actuating power supplier, and a non-contact laser measuring system. From the comparison of the performance of the LIPCA prototypes, it was found that the actuator with higher coefficient of unimorph actuator can generate larger actuating displacement.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2011

A peristaltic micropump with lightweight piezo-composite actuator (LIPCA) membrane valves is presented. The micropump contained three cylinder chambers that were connected by microchannels and two active membrane valves. A circular miniature LIPCA was developed and manufactured to be used as actuating diaphragms. The LIPCA diaphragm acted as an active membrane valve that alternate between open and closed positions at the inlet and outlet in order to produce high pumping pressure. In this LIPCA, a lead zirconium titanate ceramic with a thickness of 0.1 mm was used as an active layer. The results confirmed that the actuator produced a large out-of-plane deflection. During the design process, a coupled field analysis was conducted in order to predict the actuating behavior of the LIPCA diaphragm; the behavior of the actuator was investigated from both a theoretical and experimental perspective. The active membrane valve concept was introduced as a means for increasing pumping pressure, and microelectromechanical system techniques were used to fabricate the peristaltic micropump. The pumping performance was analyzed experimentally in terms of the flow rate, pumping pressure and power consumption.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.35-41
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• 2006

In this paper, we focus on improving the performance of the piezoelectric diaphragms of valveless micropumps. A circular lightweight piezoelectric composite actuator (LIPCA) with a high level of displacement and output force has been developed for piezoelectrically actuated micropumps. We used numerical and experimental methods to analyze the characteristics of the actuator to select optimal design. With the developed circular LIPCA, we fabricated a valveless micropump by photo-lithography and PDMS molding techniques. The displacement of the diaphragm, the flow rate and the back pressure of the micropump were evaluated and discussed. With a semi-empirical method, the flow rate with respect to driving frequency was predicted and compared with experimental one. The test results confirm that the circular LIPCA is a promising candidate for micropump application and can be used as a substitute for a conventional piezoelectric actuator diaphragm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.286-289
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• 2004

This paper presents the fatigue characteristics of LIPCA (LIghtweight Piezo-Composite Actuator) device system. The LIPCA device system is composed of a piezoelectric ceramic layer and fiber reinforced lightweight composite layers. Typically a PZT ceramic layer is sandwiched by a top fiber layer with low CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) and base layers with high CTE. The advantages of the LIPCA design are weight reduction by using the lightweight fiber reinforced plastic layers without compromising the generation of high force and large displacement and design flexibility by selecting the fiber direction and the size of prepreg layers. To predict the degradation of actuation performance of LIPCA due to fatigue, the cyclic electric loading tests using PZT specimens were performed and the strain for a given excitation voltage was measured during the test. The results from the PZT fatigue test were implemented into CLPT (Classical Laminated Plate Theory) model to predict the degradation of LIPCA's actuation displacement. The fatigue characteristic of PZT was measured using a test system composed of a supporting jig, a high voltage power supplier, data acquisition board, PC, and evaluated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1514-1519
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• 2001

This paper is concerned with design, manufacturing and performance test of LIPCA ( Lightweight Piezo- composite Curved Actuator) using a top carbon fiber composite layer with near -zero CTE(coefficient of thermal expansion), a middle PZT ceramic wafer and a bottom glass/epoxy layer with high CTE. The main point of this design is to replace the heavy metal layers of THUNDER by thigh tweight fiber reinforced plastic layers without losing capabilities to generate high force and large displacement. It is possible to save weight up to about 30% if we replace the metallic backing material by the light fiber composite layer. We can also have design flexibility by selecting the fiber direction and the size of prepreg layers. In addition to the lightweight advantage and design flexibility, the proposed device can be manufactured without adhesive layers when we use epoxy resin prepreg system. Glass/epoxy prepregs, a ceramic wafer with electrode surfaces, and a graphite/epoxy prepreg were simply stacked and cured at an elevated temperature (177 $^{circ}C$ after following an autoclave bagging process. It was found that the manufactured composite laminate device had a sufficient curvature after detached from a flat mold. The analysis method of the cure curvature of LIPCA using the classical lamination theory is presented. The predicted curvatures are fairly in agreement with the experimental ones. In order to investigate the merits of LIPCA, a performance test of both LIPCA and THUNDE$^{TM}$ were conducted under the same boundary conditions. From the experimental actuation tests, it was observed that the developed actuator could generate larger actuation displacement than THUNDERT$^{TM}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.397-398
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• 2006

The advanced piezoelectric ceramic composite actuator, which is called LIPCA with the FRP and the optimization of the laminate configuration, was performed to maximize the stress transfer and the fiber bridging effect. This study evaluated the effect of variable electric fields on the PZT characteristic, laminate configuration and fatigue characteristics under the resonance frequency, which meant the largest performance range and the changes of its interlaminar phase were also evaluated by stages. In conclusions, Comparing with the fatigue lift of intact LIPCA, the fatigue life of LIPCA embedded by the artificial delamination was decreased up to 50%. The micro void growth and the coalescence of epoxy were actively made at the interlaminar phase subject to the large tensile stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.218-224
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• 2007

Although piezoelectric materials such as PZT have been widely used as actuators in the field of active vibration suppression, the use of bare PZT as an actuator may cause some drawbacks such as critical breaks in the installation process, short circuits in the host material and low fatigue performance. The LIPCA-C2 (lightweight piezocomposite actuator) was developed to alleviate these problems. We implemented the LIPCA as an actuator to suppress the vibration of an aluminum cantilever beam with a tip mass. In our test, we used positive position feedback control algorithm. The filter frequency for this type of feedback should be tuned to the natural frequency of the target mode. The first three experimental natural frequencies of the aluminum cantilever beam agree well with the results of finite element analysis. The effectiveness of using the LIPCA as an actuator in active vibration suppression was investigated with respect to the time and frequency domains, and the experimental results show that LIPCAs with PPF control can significantly reduce the amplitude of forced vibrations and the settling time of free vibrations. For a case study, the forced vibration control of several beams with different thicknesses were performed.