抄録
A flexible mechanical structure can provide an additional function, such as a kinematic function if flexibility is implemented in some appropriate portions. This flexible structure can be used as a new type of mechanisms which are called compliant mechanisms. We can also construct so-called flextensional actuators by combining the flexible structure with piezoceramic material. In this study, we present a methodology to obtain an optimal structural configuration of a flextensional actuator using the homogenization design method. First, the extended kinematic flexibility defined as the mean transduction is formulated using a mutual energy concept. Second, we propose a new multi-objective function incorporating the kinematic flexibility and stiffness. Next, an optimization procedure is constructed based on the homogenization method and sequential linear programming(SLP). Finally, some examples are presented to confirm the problem specifications of the optimal configurations.
