Coupled Electro-Mechanical Analysis of Adaptive Material Systems — Determination of the Actuator Power Consumption and System Energy Transfer

This article presents a coupled electro-mechanical analysis of piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) actuators integrated in mechanical systems to determine the actuator power consumption and energy transfer in the electro-mechanical systems. For a material system with integrated PZT actua tors, the power consumed by the PZT actuators consists of two parts: the energy used to drive the system, which is dissipated in terms of heat as a result of the structural damping, and energy dissi pated by the PZT actuators themselves because of their dielectric loss and internal damping. The coupled analysis presented herein uses a simple model, a PZT actuator-driven one-degree-of- freedom spring-mass-damper system, to illustrate the methodology used to determine the actuator power consumption and energy flow in the coupled electro-mechanical systems. This method can be applied to more complicated mechanical structures or systems, such as a fluid-loaded shell for active structural acoustic control. The determination of the actuator power consumption can be very im portant in the design and application of intelligent material systems and structures and of particular relevance to designs that must be optimized to reduce mass and energy consumption.