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This paper presents a structural damage identification approach based on the analysis of the data from a hybrid network of self-powered accelerometer and strain sensors. Numerical and experimental studies are conducted on a plate with bolted connections to verify the method. Piezoelectric ceramic Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT)-5A ceramic discs and PZT-5H bimorph accelerometers are placed on the surface of the plate to measure the voltage changes due to damage progression. Damage is defined by loosening or removing one bolt at a time from the plate. The results show that the PZT accelerometers provide a fairly more consistent behavior than the PZT strain sensors. While some of the PZT strain sensors are not sensitive to the changes of the boundary condition, the bimorph accelerometers capture the mode changes from undamaged to missing bolt conditions. The results corresponding to the strain sensors are better indicator to the location of damage compared to the accelerometers. The characteristics of the overall structure can be monitored with even one accelerometer. On the other hand, several PZT strain sensors might be needed to localize the damage.

Macro-Fiber Composites (MFCs) are a piezoelectric material typically employed in applications ranging from vibration damping to actuation to structural health monitoring. These composites have flown in space but only with thermal protection and for a short duration. They have not been significantly tested under thermally cyclic conditions similar to those they would experience in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) without shielding. Research has shown that the performance of MFCs varies when the MFC undergoes a thermal cycle. This paper outlines an autonomous experiment that will be able to run impedance measurements and actuate MFCs, further testing their performance in a space environment where thermal cycles are common. This will be installed on a CubeSat and flown to LEO where it will collect data and downlink it back for study. Details of the layout of the experiments and electronic systems being used on the CubeSat for the payload are presented alongside future steps that need to be taken to ensure a successful flight.

In this paper, we discuss the development of models for PZT bimorph actuators used to power micro-air vehicles including Robobee. Due to the highly dynamic drive regimes required for the actuators, models must quantify the nonlinear, hysteretic, and rate-dependent behavior inherent to PZT. We first employ the homogenized energy model (HEM) framework to model the actuator dynamics. This provides a comprehensive model, which can be inverted and implemented for certain control regimes. We additionally discuss the development of data-driven models and focus on the implementation of a model based on a dynamic mode decomposition (DMD). Finally, we detail attributes of both approaches for uncertainty quantification and real-time control implementation.

Power transformer is the one of the largely important as well as one of the costly elements in the electricity grid. Any malfunction of this element may affect the reliability of the entire network and could have considerable economic impact on the system. For several reasons, overloading of power transformers beyond their rating has been reported frequently. The primary issue leading to the failure of transformer is contamination of transformer oil by the working components due to prolonged high temperature exposure. Transformer oil temperature can be utilized as a primary parameter in monitoring the life of the transformer. At present, electrical approach are vulnerable to electromagnetic interference and are limited by sensors lifetime. Other non-contact techniques are ineffective due to difficulties in processing the output signal. In this work a CuAlNi/Polyimide shape memory alloy composite has been applied to act as a temperature sensor in mineral oils. The composite film has been developed through thermal evaporation which exhibited two-way displacement without and post-processing and training. The developed films are employed in a custom made oil rig and the suitability of using it as a circuit breaker in temperature sensing application has been probed. The circuit breaker can be triggered by measuring the displacement of the bimorph using laser displacement sensor. The measurement is of noncontact type and the temperature can be monitored at regular intervals. For comparison a procure Nickel-Titanium spring with transformation temperature less than 100 °C is also used for the studies. The results show that the developed bimorphs has good sensitivity of 0.2 mm/°C and the output displacement is significant. Further the effect of contamination in the mineral oils is also probed by adding known amounts of impurities and the ageing effect has been studied. A higher resolution measuring system using interferometry has been proposed.

Historically, piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters have been limited to operation at a single, structurally resonant frequency. A piezoceramic energy harvester, such as a bimorph beam, operating at structural resonance exchanges energy between dynamic and strain regimes. This energy exchange increases the coupling between piezoceramic deformation and electrical charge generation. Two BVEH mechanisms are presented that exploit strain energy management to reduce inertial forces needed to deform the piezoceramic, thus increasing the coupling between structural and electrical energy conversion over a broadband vibration spectrum. Broadband vibration excitation produces a non-sinusoidal electrical wave form from the BVEH device. An adaptive energy conversion circuit was developed that exploits a buck converter to capture the complex waveform energy in a form easily used by standard electrical components.

Synthetic jet actuators are of interest for potential applications to active flow control and thermal management. Resonant piezoelectric-diaphragm-type configurations are commonly considered. Modeling of such actuators remains a challenge due to complexities associated with both electro-elastic and fluid-structure coupling, as well as potential non-linearities in both. A key metric for synthetic jet performance is the time-averaged jet momentum. Linear lumped-element modeling is an approach that has demonstrated the ability to predict jet momentum in terms of input frequency and voltage; however, it neglects nonlinearity and increasing losses at high amplitude. Full electro-elastic-fluidic finite element modeling makes the most accurate prediction but is computationally expensive for design and optimization purposes. The assumed-modes method provides an energy-based low-order model which captures electro-elastic and acoustic-structure couplings with adequate accuracy. Tri-laminar circular plates under clamped boundary conditions were modeled using the assumed-modes method. Maximization of jet momentum is considered via the maximization of surrogate device metrics: free volume displacement, effective blocking pressure, strain energy, and device coupling coefficient. The driving frequency of the actuator is treated as a constraint in the optimization which nominally matches the fundamental acoustic natural frequency of the cylindrical cavity. Device configurations were obtained for various polycrystalline and single crystal piezoelectric materials, driven at 10% of their coercive fields in the model. The optimal configurations approximate a simply-supported circular plate with complete piezo coverage. The relative merits of individual materials were also discerned from the optimization results. The low mechanical loss factor of PZT8 enables high output at resonance, while high loss factor and low stiffness limit the utility of PVDF in this application. Due to a combination of lower loss factor and higher coupling, single crystal materials modestly outperform PZT5A.

We investigate the ability to focus the laser beam (λ=0.65μm) propagated through the scattering suspension of polystyrene microspheres in distilled water by means of bimorph deformable mirror. Shack-Hartmann sensor was used to measure the local slopes of the Poynting vector, while the CCD camera was used to measure the intensity of the focal spot in the farfield. Bimorph deformable mirror with 14 electrodes was applied in order to increase the intensity of the focal spot in the far-field. We investigated the efficiency of the laser beam focusing improvement by means of three techniques: LSQ fiterror minimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor, Hill-climbing optimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor and Hill-climbing optimization by far-field CCD camera.

This paper reviews concepts and applications in low-power electronics and energy harvesting technologies. Various piezoelectric materials and devices for small power generators useful in renewable electricity are presented. The vibrating piezoelectric device differs from the typical electrical power source in that it has capacitive rather than inductive source impedance, and may be driven by mechanical vibrations of varying amplitude. In general, vibration energy could be converted into electrical energy using one of three techniques: electrostatic charge, magnetic fields and piezoelectric. A low power piezoelectric generator, having a PZT element was realised in order to supply small electronic elements, such as optoelectronic small devices, LEDs, electronic watches, small sensors, interferometry with lasers or Micro-electro-mechanical System (MEMS) array with multi-cantilevers.

Over the past decade, the concept of x-ray Deformable Mirror (DM) has matured from early experimental stages to a standard tool now available at many synchrotron/free-electron laser facilities. Indeed, x-ray active optics has become an integral part of all present and future large x-ray and EUV projects and will be essential in exploiting the full potential of the new sources currently under construction. These DMs mainly are employed to correct wavefront errors or provide variable x-ray beam sizes. Due to the coupling between the N actuators of a DM, it is usually necessary to perform a calibration or training step to be able to control the DM to the right target. To determine the optimum actuators settings in order to minimize slope/height errors, an initial measurement need to be collected, with all actuators set to 0 and then either N or 2 N measurements are necessary. In this work, we present a fast and accurate method to drive an x-ray active bimorph mirror to a target shape with only 3 or 4 measurements. Instead of sequentially measuring and calculating the influence functions of all actuators and then predicting the needed voltages for any desired shape, we make use of the metrology data to directly guide the mirror from current status towards the particular target slope/shape via iterative compensations. The feedback for the iteration process is the discrepancy in curvature determined by height/slope measurement data. Experiments demonstrate the feasibility of this simple approach.

Kinds of wavefront aberrations exist among optical systems because of atmosphere disturbance, device displacement and a variety of thermal effects, which disturb the information of transmitting beam and restrain its energy. Deformable mirror(DM) is designed to adjust these wavefront aberrations. Bimorph DM becomes more popular and more applicable among adaptive optical(AO) systems with advantages in simple structure, low cost and flexible design compared to traditional discrete driving DM. The defocus aberration accounted for a large proportion of all wavefront aberrations, with a simpler surface and larger amplitude than others, so it is very useful to correct the defocus aberration effectively for beam controlling and aberration adjusting of AO system. In this study, we desired on correcting the 3rd and 10th Zernike modes, analyze the characteristic of the 3rd and 10th defocus aberration surface distribution, design 3-element actuators unimorph DM model，study on its structure and deformation principle theoretically, design finite element models of different electrode configuration with different ring diameters, analyze and compare effects of different electrode configuration and different fixing mode to DM deformation capacity through COMSOL finite element software, compare fitting efficiency of DM models to the 3rd and 10th Zernike modes. We choose the inhomogeneous electrode distribution model with better result, get the influence function of every electrode and the voltage-PV relationship of the model. This unimorph DM is suitable for the AO system with a mainly defocus aberration.

Innovative technologies are needed to support and augment the development of various types of deformable mirrors (DM), such as Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), segmented, bimorph and membrane types that are currently used in adaptive-optic (AO) systems. The paper discusses the results of initial studies that, could, potentially, be employed for full characterization of the dynamic behavior of adaptive optics mirrors. The experimental data were obtained from a typical bimorph mirror using both, a Shack-Hartman wavefront sensor (SHWFS) and an Imaging Laser Doppler Vibrometer (ILDV) developed exclusively by AS and T Inc. These two sensors were employed for quantitative measurement of both the spatial and temporal dynamics of the DM under broadband excitation via the piezo electric drive elements. The need to characterize the spatial and temporal dynamic response of current and future DM mirror designs is essential for optimizing their performance to a level adequate for high bandwidth AO systems, such as those employed for real-time compensation of wavefront perturbations.

After years of development from a concept to early experimental stage, X-ray Deformable Mirrors (XDMs) are used in many synchrotron/free-electron laser facilities as a standard x-ray optics tool. XDM is becoming an integral part of the present and future large x-ray and EUV projects and will be essential in exploiting the full potential of the new sources currently under construction. The main objective of using XDMs is to correct wavefront errors or to enable variable focus beam sizes at the sample. Due to the coupling among the N actuators of a DM, it is usually necessary to perform a calibration or training process to drive the DM into the target shape. Commonly, in order to optimize the actuators settings to minimize slope/height errors, an initial measurement need to be collected, with all actuators set to 0, and then either N or 2N measurements are necessary learn each actuator behavior sequentially. In total, it means that N +1 or 2N +1 scans are required to perform this learning process. When the actuators number N is important and the actuator response or the necessary metrology is slow then this learning process can be time consuming. In this work, we present a fast and accurate method to drive an x-ray active bimorph mirror to a target shape with only 3 or 4 measurements. Instead of sequentially measuring and calculating the influence functions of all actuators and then predicting the voltages needed for any desired shape, the metrology data are directly used to “guide” the mirror from its current status towards the particular target slope/height via iterative compensations. The feedback for the iteration process is the discrepancy in curvature calculated by using B-spline fitting of the measured height/slope data. In this paper, the feasibility of this simple and effective approach is demonstrated with experiments.

Deformable, piezo bimorph mirrors are often used to expand X-ray beams to a continuous range of sizes. However, optical polishing errors present on all X-ray mirrors introduce striations into the reflected beam. To counteract them, reentrant surface modifications with alternating concave and convex curvature have been proposed and applied to mirrors of fixed shape or bimorph mirrors. For the latter, a new method of constructing re-entrant surface modifications on segments of unequal length is described. This allows the re-entrant modification required for a desired beam size at the focal point to be matched to the bimorph mirror’s polishing errors, thus reducing the voltage variations. Optical profilometry using the Diamond-NOM showed that a 5-segment and a 7-segment modification could be suitably applied to a deformable bimorph mirror. X-ray tests showed that striations caused by the 5-segment modification in the beam at the focus are concentrated at the beam edges, while the beam center is left clear. This is in contrast to simple defocusing, in which a strong side shoulder appears. The 7-segment modification produces a pattern of evenly spaced striations. The intensity spikes seen with the re-entrant modifications are caused chiefly by the finite curvature of the mirror at the turning points. The question of whether deformable bimorph mirrors with different piezo response functions could sharpen the curvature changes will be investigated. Optimal modifications of continuous curvature, which could more realistically be applied, will be sought.

We have fabricated a 410 x 468 mm size deformable mirror with 100 Bimorph piezoceramic actuators for the LFEX laser system at Osaka University. In the case of Bimorph-type deformable mirrors, the mirror surface had to be polished and coated after bonding the piezoceramic actuators to the rear side of the thin mirror substrate. This provides a good surface figure, but the coating temperature for the high-reflection mirror was strictly limited because of the thermal fragility of piezoceramic actuators. The mirror substrate with the actuators was polished, and an ion-assisted multilayer dielectric coating was produced at 60 degrees Celsius with our 80-inch coating chamber. The flatness of the mirror just after coating was 7 μm, and reduced by aging to 3.2 μm when the mirror was assembled. The surface figure of the assembled mirror with 20 piezostack bonded actuators is demonstrated and a laser-induced damage threshold tested with a witness sample is also reported.

The deformable mirror with the size of 410x468 mm controlled by the bimorph piezoceramic plates and multilayer piezoceramic stacks was developed. The results of the measurements of the response functions of all the actuators and of the surface shape of the deformable mirror are presented in this paper. The study of the mirror with a Fizeau interferometer and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor has shown that it was possible to improve the flatness of the surface down to a residual roughness of 0.033 μm (RMS). The possibility of correction of the aberrations in high power lasers was numerically demonstrated.

The batteries of the current pacing devices are relatively large and occupy over 60 percent of the size of pulse generators. Therefore, they cannot be placed in the subtle areas of human body. In this paper, the mastication force and the resulting tooth pressure are converted to electricity. The pressure energy can be converted to electricity by using the piezoelectric effect. The tooth crown is used as a power autonomous pulse generator. We refer to this envisioned pulse generator as the smart tooth. The smart tooth is in the form of a dental implant. A piezoelectric vibration energy harvester is designed and modeled for this purpose. The Piezoelectric based energy harvesters investigated and analyzed in this paper initially includes a single degree of freedom piezoelectric based stack energy harvester which utilizes a harvesting circuit employing the case of a purely resistive circuit. The next step is utilizing and investigating a bimorph piezoelectric beam which is integrated/embedded in the smart tooth implant. Mastication process causes the bimorph beam to buckle or return to unbuckled condition. The transitions results in vibration of the piezoelectric beam and thus generate energy. The power estimated by the two mechanisms is in the order of hundreds of microwatts. Both scenarios of the energy harvesters are analytically modeled. The exact analytical solution of the piezoelectric beam energy harvester with Euler–Bernoulli beam assumptions is presented. The electro-mechanical coupling and the geometric nonlinearities have been included in the model for the piezoelectric beam.

A mathematical model was developed to represent the behavior of circular piezoelectric bimorphs in a synthetic jet actuator. Synthetic jet actuators are popular active flow control devices whose application is being widely explored in aerodynamics. The material properties were matched to those of PZT-5A mounted on a substrate. The actuator’s geometry consisted of a cylindrical cavity of low height to diameter aspect ratio. A bimorph formed one of the cylinder’s bases. The ingestion/expulsion orifice for the synthetic jet actuator was placed in the edge of the cavity so as to allow for either the present single bimorph or future dual bimorph configurations. Simply supported and rigidly supported boundary conditions were assessed around the circumference of the bimorph. The potential of alternate mode shapes occurring in the bimorphs during operation of the synthetic jet was evaluated. A limited parametric study was conducted varying the thickness of the piezoelectric wafers used in the bimorphs and the geometry of the cavity and orifice. Results were obtained for the displacement of the center of the bimorph’s surface and the peak velocity of the air being ingested and expulsed through the orifice. These results were compared to values obtained through a mathematical model. Experimental data present in literature were also compared. The mathematical model was seen to have considerable potential for predicting the performance of synthetic jet actuators and their resonant frequencies but failed to capture the effects of acoustic coupling with the cavity, which is a topic of future research.

In this paper, we report on the fabrication of a self-sensing electroactive polymer cantilevered bimorph beam actuator and its frequency response. Tip deflections of the beam, induced by applying an AC signal across ferroelectric relaxor polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene (P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)), reached a magnitude of 350μm under a field of ~55MV/m and were recorded externally using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). Deflections were determined simultaneously by applying a sensing model to the voltage measured across the bimorph’s integrated layer of piezoelectric polymer polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). The sensing model treats the structure as a simple Euler- Bernoulli cantilevered beam with two distributed active elements represented through the use of generalized functions and offers a method through which real time tip deflection can be measured without the need for external visualization. When not being used as a sensing element, the PVDF layer can provide an additional means for actuation of the beam via the converse piezoelectric effect, resulting in bidirectional control of the beam's deflections. Integration of flexible sensing elements together with modeling of the electroactive polymer beam can benefit the developing field of polymer microactuators which have applications in soft robotics as "smart" prosthetics/implants, haptic displays, tools for less invasive surgery, and sensing.

Intentionally designed nonlinearities have been employed by several research groups to enhance the frequency bandwidth of vibration energy harvesters. Another type of nonlinear resonance behavior emerges from the piezoelectric constitutive behavior for high excitation levels and is manifested in the form of softening stiffness. This material nonlinearity does not result in the jump phenomenon in soft piezoelectric ceramics, e.g. PZT-5A and PZT-5H, due to their large internal dissipation. This paper explores the potential for wideband energy harvesting using a hard (relatively high quality factor) PZT-8 bimorph by exploiting its material softening. A wide range of base excitation experiments conducted for a set of resistive electrical loads confirms the frequency bandwidth enhancement.

Paper presents a structure of a micro-mirror element driven by thermal micro-actuators. Micro-mirror dimensions are 100x100 um and it was manufactured by a surface micromachining using microelectronics technologies. Thermal microactuator is a bimorph structure consisting of aluminum and silicon dioxide layers with a polysilicon heater between them. The description of manufacturing process for micro-mirror element is given. The micro-mirror motion is achieved by passing an electric current through the heater. The actuator structure is heated and rotates the mirror. The processes of heating and cooling of thermal micro-actuator structure directly affects the characteristics of manufactured micro-mirror, thus the studying of these processes is essential. The report proposes a method for calculating the heating and cooling time, taking into account the influence of the structure geometry, electrical characteristics of external influence and the environment conditions. Also a method for the experimental determination of the dynamic characteristics is proposed, along with the method of electro-thermal analogy. The results of calculation are in good agreement with the experimental data, which allows one to use it to determine the dynamic characteristics of micro-devices based on thermal microactuators.

It is suggested to reconstruct the phase screens with the use of different deformable mirror types. In this work we present the results of the phase screen reproducing with the use of stacked-actuator deformable mirror and bimorph one. The reconstruction results were compared. The problems of the reconstruction were discussed.

Adjustable X-ray optics represent a potential enabling technology for simultaneously achieving large effective area and high angular resolution for future X-ray Astronomy missions. The adjustable optics employ a bimorph mirror composed of a thin (1.5 μm) film of piezoelectric material deposited on the back of a 0.4 mm thick conical mirror segment. The application of localized electric fields in the piezoelectric material, normal to the mirror surface, result in localized deformations in mirror shape. Thus, mirror fabrication and mounting induced figure errors can be corrected, without the need for a massive reaction structure. With this approach, though, film stresses in the piezoelectric layer, resulting from deposition, crystallization, and differences in coefficient of thermal expansion, can distort the mirror. The large relative thickness of the piezoelectric material compared to the glass means that even 100MPa stresses can result in significant distortions. We have examined compensating for the piezoelectric processing related distortions by the deposition of controlled stress chromium/iridium films on the front surface of the mirror. We describe our experiments with tuning the product of the chromium/iridium film stress and film thickness to balance that resulting from the piezoelectric layer. We also evaluated the repeatability of this deposition process, and the robustness of the iridium coating....

Sometimes to improve the performance of industrial or scientific laser technology it is desired to transform an intensity distribution from Gaussian to the flattop. The adjusting of the intensity profile can be implemented by means of adaptive optics. In this paper we present laser beam control with bimorph deformable mirrors. Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is used to determine the control signal for the bimorph deformable mirror while focal spot is observed with CCD camera to check the result of beam shaping.

The research and development results along the characteristics of the micro-mirror element driven by thermal microactuator are presented. This work shows that for calculating micro-mirror element deflection is crucial for consideration the temperature distribution along the length of the micromirror element. The calculation of the superheat temperature is provided, along with the effective overheat temperature. Provided calculations are in good correlation with experimental data.

Scavenging of low-level ambient vibrations i.e. the conversion of kinetic into electric energy, is proven as effective means of powering low consumption electronic devices such as wireless sensor nodes. Cantilever based scavengers are characterised by several advantages and thus thoroughly investigated ; analytical models based on a distributed parameter approach, Euler- Bernoulli beam theory and eigenvalue analysis have thus been developed and experimentally verified. Finite element models (FEM) have also been proposed employing different modelling approaches and commercial software packages with coupled analysis capabilities. An approach of using a FEM analysis of a piezoelectric cantilever bimorph under harmonic excitation is used in this work. Modal, harmonic and linear and nonlinear transient analyses are performed. Different complex dynamic effects are observed and compared to the results obtained by using a distributed parameter model. The influence of two types of finite elements and three mesh densities is also investigated. A complex bimorph cantilever, based on commercially available Midé Technology® Volture energy scavengers, is then considered. These scavengers are characterised by an intricate multilayer structure not investigated so far in literature. An experimental set-up is developed to evaluate the behaviour of the considered class of devices. The results of the modal and the harmonic FEM analyses of the behaviour of the multilayer scavengers are verified experimentally for three different tip masses and 12 different electrical load values. A satisfying agreement between numerical and experimental results is achieved.

The Pizzicato Energy Harvester (EH) introduced the technique of frequency up-conversion to piezoelectric EHs wearable on the lateral side of the knee-joint. The operation principle is to pluck the piezoelectric bimorphs with plectra so that they produce electrical energy during the ensuing mechanical vibrations. The device presented in this work is, in some ways, an evolution of the earlier Pizzicato: it is a significantly more compact and lighter device; the central hub holds 16 piezoelectric bimorphs shaped as trapezoids, which permits a sleek design and potentially increased energy output for the same bimorph area. Plectra were formed by Photochemical Machining of a 100-μm-thick steel sheet. To avoid the risk of short-circuiting, the plectra were electrically passivated by sputtering a 100 nm layer of ZrO2. Bench tests with the steel plectra showed a very large energy generation. Polyimide plectra were also manufactured with a cutting plotter from a 125μm-thick film. Besides bench tests, a volunteer wore the device while walking on flat ground or climbing stairs, with a measured energy output of approximately 0.8 mJ per step. Whereas most of the tests were performed by the traditional method of discharging the rectified output from the EH onto a resistive load, tests were performed also with a circuit offering a stabilised 3.3 V supply. The circuit produced a stable 0.1 mA supply during running gait with kapton plectra.

Power generation schemes that could be used downhole in an oil well to produce about 1 Watt average power with long-life (decades) are actively being developed. A variety of proposed energy harvesting schemes could be used to extract energy from this environment but each of these has their own limitations that limit their practical use. Since vibrating piezoelectric structures are solid state and can be driven below their fatigue limit, harvesters based on these structures are capable of operating for very long lifetimes (decades); thereby, possibly overcoming a principle limitation of existing technology based on rotating turbo-machinery. An initial survey [1] identified that spline nozzle configurations can be used to excite a vibrating piezoelectric structure in such a way as to convert the abundant flow energy into useful amounts of electrical power. This paper presents current flow energy harvesting designs and experimental results of specific spline nozzle/ bimorph design configurations which have generated suitable power per nozzle at or above well production analogous flow rates. Theoretical models for non-dimensional analysis and constitutive electromechanical model are also presented in this paper to optimize the flow harvesting system.

It is desired to use some special intensity distribution on the target for various industrial applications. The adjusting of the intensity profile can be implemented by means of adaptive optics. In this paper we present laser beam control in the focal plane of lens with bimorph deformable mirrors. Hill-climbing method and stochastic algorithm are compared. Advantages and disadvantages of two methods are discussed.

Vibration-based energy harvesting using a disk-type piezoelectric bimorph with thickness poled circular piezoelectric laminates is explored theoretically and experimentally. The bimorph disk consists of two circular laminates electrically connected in series and shunted through the outer surface electrodes to an electrical load for characterizing the power output and piezoelectrically shunted vibration in response to base excitation. The bimorph disk with free edge conditions is mounted to the vibrating base from its center and the focus is placed on the fundamental axisymmetric vibration mode. Electromechanical coupling is introduced to the distributed-parameter model of the thin circular plate and a resistive load is considered across the electrodes. Following a modal analysis-based electroelastic solution, closed-form expressions are obtained for the voltage output and shunted vibration frequency response functions by accounting for the two-way coupling in the presence of a finite electrical load impedance. Experimental validations of the electroelastic model are given for two separate bimorph disks of different diameters.

Electroelastic and dissipative nonlinearities of commonly used soft piezoelectrics (PZT-5A and PZT-5H) are pronounced in various engineering applications such as actuation, sensing, vibration control, and most recently, in energy harvesting from dynamical systems. The present work investigates the nonlinear nonconservative dynamic behavior of bimorph piezoelectric cantilevers under low-to-high excitation levels with a focus on most popular soft piezoceramics: PZT-5A and PZT-5H. A unified mathematical framework we recently developed is analyzed by using the method of harmonic balance to identify and validate nonlinear system parameters based on a set of rigorous experiments for different samples.

There are numerous applications for micromirror arrays seen in our everyday lives. From flat screen televisions and computer monitors, found in nearly every home and office, to advanced military weapon systems and space vehicles, each application bringing with it a unique set of requirements. The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) industry has researched many ways micromirror actuation can be accomplished and the different constraints on performance each design brings with it. This paper investigates a new “zipper” approach to electrostatically driven micromirrors with the intent of improving duel plane beam steering by coupling large deflection angles, over 30°, and a fast switching speed. To accomplish this, an extreme initial deflection is needed which can be reached using high stress bimorph beams. Currently this requires long beams and high voltage for the electrostatic pull in or slower electrothermal switching. The idea for this “zipper” approach is to stack multiple beams of a much shorter length and allow for the deflection of each beam to be added together in order to reach the required initial deflection height. This design requires much less pull-in voltage because the pull-in of one short beam will in turn reduce the height of the all subsequent beams, making it much easier to actuate. Using modeling and simulation software to characterize operations characteristics, different bimorph cantilever beam configurations are explored in order to optimize the design. These simulations show that this new “zipper” approach increases initial deflection as additional beams are added to the assembly without increasing the actuation voltage.

Large aperture composite adaptive optics for laser applications is investigated in cooperation of Institute of Plasma Physic, Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering FME CTU and 5M Ltd. We are exploring opportunity of a large-size high-power-laser deformable-mirror production using a lightweight bimorph actuated structure with a composite core. In order to produce a sufficiently large operational free aperture we are developing new technologies for production of flexible core, bimorph actuator and deformable mirror reflector. Full simulation of a deformable-mirrors structure was prepared and validated by complex testing. A deformable mirror actuation and a response of a complicated structure are investigated for an accurate control of the adaptive optics. An original adaptive optics control system and a bimorph deformable mirror driver were developed. Tests of material samples, components and sub-assemblies were completed. A subscale 120 mm bimorph deformable mirror prototype was designed, fabricated and thoroughly tested. A large-size 300 mm composite-core bimorph deformable mirror was simulated and optimized, fabrication of a prototype is carried on. A measurement and testing facility is modified to accommodate large sizes optics.

In the daily living space, measurement of the biological-substance distributions such as sebum can be realized by the proposed method of imaging-type 2-dimensional Fourier spectroscopy. This method has the strong robustness for mechanical vibrations. So, the spectrometer (size: 50*50mm, weight: 200g) can be produced without anti-vibration mechanism. Moreover, the phase shifter is a core part of the spectrometer, and it is constructed by the low-price bimorph type actuator which is depending on the vibration control of the piezoceramic in proposed method. It is appropriate as the actuator of the phase shifter from the evaluation results of the actuator straightness and position accuracy in the midinfrared region. As we know, the Fourier spectroscopy has a high light utilization efficiency. Therefore, the low price microbolometer can be used as the imaging sensor. So, the low-price (10,000 U.S. dollars), compact and high portability spectrometer can be produced. Furthermore, the much higher position accuracy in the short wavelength region is requested as we know, the phase shift correction method has been proposed. In this paper, high performance evaluations of the portable spectroscopy apparatus have been discussed by using the CO2 laser spectroscopy results in the midinfrared region. Then, the phase shift correction method was explained. At the end, we demonstrated the feasibility of the mid-infrared imaging of whole human faces without active illuminations.

A novel adaptive optics vision simulator (AOVS) is presented and characterized for several design features, including automated measuring and compensating eye’s aberrations up to the fifth order, which fully cover aberrations typically found in the human eye, even for the cases of highly aberrated eyes. Especially, it is equipped with 35 elements bimorph deformable mirror with bigger stroke and smaller size, which could help establish near-diffraction-limited ocular optics condition. To investigate the validity of this apparatus, pilot data under different aberration correction pattern from one subjects are collected, and contrast sensitivity function (CSF), an important psychophysical function in vision, is obtained also. Results from living eyes show a practically perfect aberration correction and demonstrate the utility of this system.

Modern, third-generation synchrotron radiation sources provide coherent and extremely bright beams of X-ray radiation. The successful exploitation of such beams depends to a significant extent on imperfections and misalignment of the optics employed on the beamlines. This issue becomes even more critical with the increasing use of active optics, and the desire to achieve diffraction-limited and coherence-preserving X-ray beams. In recent years, significant progress has been made to improve optic testing and optimization techniques, especially those using X-rays for so-called atwavelength metrology. These in-situ and at-wavelength metrology methods can be used not only to optimize the performance of X-ray optics, but also to correct and minimize the collective distortions of upstream beamline optics, including monochromators, and transmission windows. An overview of at-wavelength metrology techniques implemented at Diamond Light Source is presented, including grating interferometry and X-ray near-field speckle based techniques. Representative examples of the application of these techniques are also given, including in-situ and atwavelength calibration and optimization of: active, piezo bimorph mirrors; Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) mirrors; and refractive optics such as compound refractive lenses.

Grazing incidence mirrors are now a standard optic for focusing X-ray beams. Both bimorph and mechanically bendable mirrors are widely used at Diamond Light Source because they permit a wide choice of focal lengths. They can also be deliberately set out of focus to enlarge the X-ray beam, and indeed many beamline teams now wish to generate uniform beam spots of variable size. However, progress has been slowed by the appearance of fine structure in these defocused beams. Measurements showing the relationship between the medium-frequency polishing error and this structure over a variety of beam sizes will be presented. A theoretical model for the simulations of defocused beams from general mirrors will then be developed. Not only the figure error and its first derivative the slope error, but also the second derivative, the curvature error, must be considered. In conclusion, possible ways to reduce the defocused beam structure by varying the actuators' configuration and settings will be discussed.

Inherent nonlinearities of piezoelectric materials are inevitably pronounced in various engineering applications such as sensing, actuation, their combined applications for vibration control, and most recently, energy harvesting from dynamical systems. The existing literature focusing on the dynamics of electroelastic structures made of piezoelectric materials have explored such nonlinearities in a disconnected way for the separate problems of mechanical and electrical excitation such that nonlinear resonance trends have been assumed to be due to different additional terms in constitutive equations by different researchers. Similar manifestations of softening nonlinearities have been attributed to purely elastic nonlinear terms, coupling nonlinearities, hysteresis, or a combination of these effects, by various authors. However, a reliable nonlinear constitutive equation for a given piezoelectric material is expected to be rather unique and valid regardless of the application, e.g. energy harvesting, sensing, or actuation. A systematic approach focusing on the two-way coupling can result in a sound mathematical framework. To this end, the present work investigates the nonlinear dynamic behavior of a bimorph piezoelectric cantilever under low-to-high mechanical and electrical excitation levels in energy harvesting, sensing, and actuation. A physical model is proposed including both ferroelastic hysteresis, stiffness, and electromechanical coupling nonlinearities. A lumped parameter electroelastic model is developed by accounting for these nonlinearities to analyze the primary resonance of a cantilever using the method of harmonic balance. Strong agreement between the model and experimental investigation is found, providing solid evidence that the the dominant source of observed softening nonlinear effects in geometrically linear piezolectric cantilever beams is well represented by a quadratic term resulting from ferroelastic hysteresis. Electromechanical coupling and cubic softening nonlinearities are observed to become effective only near the physical limits of the brittle and stiff bimorph cantilever used in the experiments, revealing that the quadratic nonlinearity associated with hysteresis has the primary role in nonlinear nonconservative dynamic behavior.

Low-power electronic systems are used in various underwater applications ranging from naval sensor networks to ecological monitoring for sustainability. In this work, underwater base excitation of cantilevers made of Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) piezoelectric structures is explored experimentally and theoretically to harvest energy for such wireless electronic components toward enabling self-powered underwater systems. Bimorph cantilevers made of MFCs with different length-to-width ratios and same thickness are tested in air and under water to characterize the change in natural frequency and damping with a focus on the fundamental bending mode. The real and imaginary parts of hydrodynamic frequency response functions are identified and corrected based on this set of experiments. An electrohydroelastic model is developed and experimentally validated for predicting the power delivered to an electrical load as well as the shunted underwater vibration response under base excitation. Variations of the electrical power output with excitation frequency and load resistance are obtained for different length-to-width ratios. Underwater power density results are reported and compared with their in-air counterparts. Specifically a nonlinear dependence of the power density to the cantilever width is reported for energy harvesting from underwater base excitation.

There is a need for a long-life power generation scheme that could be used downhole in an oil well to produce 1 Watt average power. There are a variety of existing or proposed energy harvesting schemes that could be used in this environment but each of these has its own limitations. The vibrating piezoelectric structure is in principle capable of operating for very long lifetimes (decades) thereby possibly overcoming a principle limitation of existing technology based on rotating turbo-machinery. In order to determine the feasibility of using piezoelectrics to produce suitable flow energy harvesting, we surveyed experimentally a variety of nozzle configurations that could be used to excite a vibrating piezoelectric structure in such a way as to enable conversion of flow energy into useful amounts of electrical power. These included reed structures, spring mass-structures, drag and lift bluff bodies and a variety of nozzles with varying flow profiles. Although not an exhaustive survey we identified a spline nozzle/piezoelectric bimorph system that experimentally produced up to 3.4 mW per bimorph. This paper will discuss these results and present our initial analyses of the device using dimensional analysis and constitutive electromechanical modeling. The analysis suggests that an order-of-magnitude improvement in power generation from the current design is possible.

The flexure-box morphing aileron concept utilizes Macro-Fiber Composites (MFCs) and a compliant box to create a conformal morphing aileron. This work evaluates the impact of the number of MFCs on the performance, power and mass of the aileron by experimentally investigating two different actuator configurations: unimorph and bimorph. Implemented in a NACA 0012 airfoil with 304.8 mm chord, the unimorph and bimorph configurations are experimentally tested over a range of flow speeds from 5 to 20 m/s and angles of attack from -20 to 20 degrees under aerodynamic loads in a wind tunnel. An embedded flexible sensor is installed in the aileron to evaluate the effect of aerodynamic loading on tip position. For both design choices, the effect of actuation on lift, drag and pitching moment coefficients are measured. Finally, the impact on aileron mass and average power consumption due to the added MFCs is considered. The results showed the unimorph exhibiting superior ability to influence flow up to 15 m/s, with equivalent power consumption and lower overall mass. At 20 m/s, the bimorph exhibited superior control over aerodynamic forces and the unimorph experienced significant deformation due to aerodynamic loading.

Wide aperture bimorph mirrors for laser beam correction and formation were developed and investigated. Different types of substrates and active piezoceramics materials were considered to fabricate temperature independent shape of the mirror surface and to maximize the sensitivity of the mirror. High reflectivity coatings for different wavelengths were studied.

Thermal bimorphs are extensively used in engineering applications with its ability to generate large forces and deflections. A new pore-structured thermal microactuator design, which incorporates the thermal bimorph concept, is proposed to trap single biological cells for sensing and imaging. This can act as an alternative to the existing methods as it possesses the potential to trap the cells without any repercussions while being relatively low cost and easy to operate. In this study, the thermal microactuator design is investigated and analysed using finite element analysis (FEA) where the deflection was determined to be dependent on the effective length and the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). Upon thermal loading, the internal stresses were found to be tunable by employing several geometric modifications. With determined parameters, prototypes of the design were fabricated on silicon nitride (Si3N4) membrane with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating.

We present performance calculations for a MEMS cantilever device for sensing heat input from convection or radiation. The cantilever deflects upwards under an electrostatic repulsive force from an applied periodic saw-tooth bias voltage, and returns to a null position as the bias decreases. Heat absorbed during the cycle causes the cantilever to deflect downwards, thus decreasing the time to return to the null position. In these calculations, the total deflection with respect to absorbed heat is determined and is described as a function of time. We present estimates of responsivity and noise.

This work presents mathematical modelling of unimorph and bimorph AlN piezoelectric micromachined harvesters utilizing an energetic electron source - amenable to powering miniaturized devices such as MEMS(micro electro mechanical system) sensors. Tritiated silicon, as the energetic electron source, is appropriately aligned under a cantilever structure such that the emitted electrons are trapped by the collecting surface of the cantilever, thereby rendering it negatively charged while the electron emitting surface becomes positively charged. As a result, the attractive electric force causes the cantilever to bend towards the electron emitting surface until it makes contact and is discharged, and thus the cantilever snaps back. The resulting energy from the piezoelectric capacitor is rectified to provide electrical power to MEMS devices. Detailed electromechanical analysis and modelling of unimorph and series and parallel bimorph architectures are presented. Very good agreement between the results of the analytical model and the available experimental findings is demonstrated, thus providing assurance for the optimization study of tritiated silicon radioisotope excited piezoelectric energy harvesters.

Wireless sensor network is one of the prospective methods for railway monitoring due to the long-term operation and low-maintenance performances. How to supply power to the wireless sensor nodes has drawn much attention recently. In railway monitoring, the idea of converting ambient vibration energy from vibration of railway track induced by passing trains to electric energy has made it a potential way for powering the wireless sensor nodes. Nowadays, most of vibration based energy harvesters are designed at resonance. However, as railway vibration frequency is a wide band range, how to design an energy harvester working at that range is critical. In this paper, the energy consumption of the wireless smart sensor platform, Imote2, at different working states were investigated. Based on the energy consumption, a design of a bimorph cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester has been optimized to generate maximum average power between a wide-band frequency range. Significant power and current outputs have been increased after optimal design. Finally, the rechargeable battery life for supplying the Imote2 for railway monitoring is predicted by using the optimized piezoelectric energy harvesting system.

Piezoelectric materials due to their high electromechanical coupling properties are good candidates for energy harvesting applications by transforming mechanical energy to electrical power. The piezoelectric coupling coefficient of each material is dependent on its operating mode and higher coupling coefficient means higher efficiency in energy harvesting. In most of the piezoelectric materials, the d15 piezoelectric strain coefficient is the highest coefficient compared to the d33 and d31 coefficients. However complicated fabrication and evaluation of energy harvesting devices operating in the shear mode has slow down the research in this area. The shear piezoelectric effect can be induced during the steady state response of a thick cantilever composite beam due to the effect of shear force through the thickness. Here, a model based on the Timoshenko beam theory is developed to estimate the electric power output in a cantilever beam with a piezoelectric core subjected to the base excitation. The governing electromechanical equations as well as the output voltage and power frequency responses are derived for the piezoelectric sandwich beam. This model is applicable to different geometries and piezoelectric compositions in order to design an optimal shear energy harvester. At the end, the performance of this type of shear energy harvesters is compared to the typical cantilever bimorph energy harvesting beams with the same piezoelectric volume.

Aircraft wings with smooth, hinge-less morphing ailerons exhibit increased chordwise aerodynamic efficiency over conventional hinged ailerons. Ideally, the wing would also use these morphing ailerons to smoothly vary its airfoil shape between spanwise stations to optimize the lift distribution and further increase aerodynamic efficiency. However, the mechanical complexity or added weight of achieving such a design has traditionally exceeded the potential aerodynamic gains. By expanding upon the previously developed cascading bimorph concept, this work uses embedded Macro-Fiber Composites and a flexure box mechanism, created using multi-material 3D printing, to achieve the Spanwise Morphing Trailing Edge (SMTE) concept. The morphing actuators are spaced spanwise along the wing with an elastomer spanning the gaps between them, which allows for optimization of the spanwise lift distribution while maintaining the continuity and efficiency of the morphing trailing edge. The concept is implemented in a representative section of a UAV wing with a 305 mm chord. A novel honeycomb skin is created from an elastomeric material using a 3D printer. The actuation capabilities of the concept are evaluated with and without spanning material on a test stand, free of aerodynamic loads. In addition, the actuation restrictions of the spanning elastomer, necessary in adapting the morphing concept from 2D to 3D, are characterized. Initial aerodynamic results from the 1’×1’ wind-tunnel also show the effects of aerodynamic loading on the actuation range of the SMTE concept for uniform morphing.

Low voltage, dry electrochemical actuators can be prepared by using a gel made of carbon nanotubes and ionic liquid. 1 Their performance can be significantly improved by combining physical and chemical modifications with a proper engineering. We demonstrated that multi walled carbon nanotubes can be effectively used for actuators preparation; 2 we achieved interesting performance improvements by chemically cross linking carbon nanotubes using both aromatic and aliphatic diamines; 3 we introduced a novel hybrid material, made by in-situ chemical polymerization of pyrrole on carbon nanotubes, that further boosts actuation by taking advantage of the peculiar properties of both materials in terms of maximum strain and conductivity; 4 we investigated the influence of actuator thickness showing that the generated strain at high frequency is strongly enhanced when thickness is reduced. To overcome limitations set by bimorphs, we designed a novel actuator in which a metal spring, embedded in the solid electrolyte of a bimorph device, is used as a non-actuating counter plate resulting in a three electrode device capable of both linear and bending motion. Finally, we propose a way to model actuators performance in terms of purely material-dependent parameters instead of geometry-dependent ones. 5

This paper presents the design of the closed loop adaptive system to measure and correct for the aberrations of CO 2 laser radiation. We considered two wavefront sensors - one sensor is based on commercially available IR camera while the second one – on the so-called thing film sensors. Also we present the design of two bimorph deformable mirrors to be used under high power laser radiation. We discuss both positive and negative attributes of these devices and the possibility to use them in the real laser high-power systems.

We propose, design and fabricate here an electrostatically actuated continuous single-crystal-silicon membrane deformable mirror (DM) for astronomical observation. To get a large stroke, a bimorph spring array is used to generate a large air gap between the mirror membrane and the electrode. A DM with a 1.8mm×1.8mm mirror membrane are fabricated by combining Au-Si eutectic wafer bonding and the subsequent all-dry release process. The stroke of the DM is 3.5μm at 115V. The influence function on the nearest neighbor is 51%. The fill factor of the DM is 99.9%.