Development of a low-voltage piezohydraulic pump for compact hydraulic systems

摘要

Frequency-leveraged electrohydraulic and piezohydraulic pumps represent an alternative technology to traditional electromagnetic motors. The development of a 45 cm(3) piezohydraulic pump utilizing a 2 g low-voltage piezoelectric stack is presented. The piezohydraulic pump flow rate and performance were measured and compared to existing pumps in the literature. The flow rate produced by piezohydraulic pump was a nonlinear function of pump operational frequency showing multiple peaks. These flow rate peaks were a function of accumulator size and hydraulic line resonance. The piezohydraulic pump was capable of producing a 125 kPa stall pressure, 186 mL min(-1) no-load flow rate, and 0.14 W of power. This pump constitutes one of the two miniature piezohydraulic pumps capable of outputting useful mechanical work. In addition, these results demonstrate that the external hydraulic lines and hydraulic accumulators have a significant effect on the flow and power output of this technology.