Hydraulic amplification devices for stroke amplification inMEMS devices have been designed, fabricated and evaluatedexperimentally. This work investigates the feasibility of using theconcept of hydraulic amplification as a means of increasing theactuation stroke of a piezoelectric actuator in a microfabricatedactuation system. The important aspects relating to the design ofthese devices are presented. This paper further provides a briefoverview of the fabrication process used and then proceeds toaddress the topics related to the successful filling and sealing ofsmall-scale hydraulic couplers. Both static and dynamic sealingtechniques were used. Static tests were performed and strokeamplification ratios as high as 50:1 were obtained, with the peakto-peak amplified stroke being approximately 25μm. Results froma piezoelectrically driven hydraulic amplifier are also presentedand show resonant behavior at approximately 5kHz, proving thathigh-frequency, high-force, large-stroke actuation can beperformed on the microscale using piezoelectric hydraulicamplification.
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