EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF A PIEZOELECTRICALLY ACTUATED ROTATING PARTS FEEDER

摘要

The parts feeder provides both horizontal and verticalforces to transfer the small parts between stations in automatedmanufacturing processes. In this paper, the dynamiccharacteristics of a piezoelectrically actuated rotating partsfeeder was evaluated. The model of the piezoelectric bimorph,the key component of the parts feeder, is formulated under DCand AC excitation. Experiments using laser interferometer,impedance analyzer and spectrum analyzer were conducted tomeasure displacement sensitivity, resonance frequencies andantiresonance frequencies of the electrical/mechanical system.Relations between driving frequencies and vibration amplitudesunder various driving voltages were reported. Fromexperimental results, the resonance frequencies of themechanical system were identified at 176.6 Hz and 535 Hz.The first resonance and anti-resonance frequencies of theelectrical system were found at 176.0 Hz and 177.5 Hz. Theelectromechanical coupling coefficient for piezoelectricactuator using Mason formula is 13%. Operating at the firstresonance frequency, the parts feeder feeds at 17.66 mm/setwith a vertical vibration amplitude of 14.2 ,μm.