Normally closed piezoelectric micro valve

Based on a previously developed piezoelectric membrane actuator a normally closed piezoelectric micro valve was designed. The presented paper briefly explains the principle of this novel actuator and continues with the possible design of a normally closed piezoelectric micro valve. The actuator operates with surface electrodes. The thus generated electric field causes an inhomogeneous mechanical stress distribution within the piezoelectric material. Because of this the piezoelectric material is forced to deflect without any supporting passive membrane. If this actuator is placed smartly in a micro valve device a normally closed piezoelectric micro valve can be created, as will be shown in this paper.