A novel electrical configuration for three wire piezoelectric bimorph micro-positioners

This paper describes a new method for driving bimorph and multimorph piezoelectric benders. The `Biased Bipolar Configuration´ uses a bias voltage applied to the top electrode, a control voltage applied to the centre electrode, and a grounded bottom electrode. Using this technique the predicted deflection and force for a given piezoelectric bender is approximately 2.2 and 1.3 times greater than traditional methods. Experimental results demonstrate that the biased bipolar configuration provides an approximate 2.4 and 1.4 times improvement in the maximum deflection and force which correlates well with the predicted improvement.