Mass Detection by Theoretical and Experimental Frequency Response Analysis of Bending Piezoelectric Actuators

In this study, mass detection by frequency reponse analysis of piezoelectric actuators has been investigated. Bimorph piezoelectric actuators have been applied to increase the actuation force and decrease the nonlinear effects and vibrational coupling. In this regard, the theory of mass detection was investigates by analyzing the frequency response of piezoelectric actuators. For this purpose, first, the dynamic equation of bimorph piezoelectric actuators was calculated. Then, the natural frequency response of actuator without any added mass was analyzed. In addition, the effect of added mass on the frequency response and its behavior analysis were investigated to find the amount of mass. Finally, experiments were carried out to confirm the validity of the simulation results. The results reveals that if the measured masses, in the milligram order, are in the range of 0.01 to 0.2 times of the actuator mass, the measument’s error is less than 13%, therefore, this setup has appropriate accuracy.