TY - JOUR
T1 - A small three-way valve using particle excitation driven by a single piezoelectric transducer for hydraulic actuator
AU - Yamamoto, Hikaru
AU - Kanda, Takefumi
AU - Wakimoto, Shuichi
AU - Ota, Yusuke
AU - Takami, Hatuto
AU - Suzumori, Koichi
AU - Ukida, Takahiro
AU - Nabae, Hiroyuki
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the <GS1>ImPACT Program of the Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan</GS2>. The authors would like to thank Mr. Hayato Ozaki of Okayama University for his helpful advice and assistance on the design of the proposed three-way valve.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the ImPACT Program of the Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. The authors would like to thank Mr. Hayato Ozaki of Okayama University for his helpful advice and assistance on the design of the proposed three-way valve.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - In this study, a small flow valve for controlling hydraulic actuators was developed. Recently, robot actuators have been used at sites where humans cannot enter, e.g., disaster sites. However, the control system of a multi-degree-of-freedom mechanism requires many control components, consequently increasing the size of the system, which can be a problem. This paper describes the fabrication and evaluation of a small three-way valve particle excitation valve driven by a single piezoelectric transducer. The three-way valve comprises one transducer and two control valves. Because the two valves have different resonant frequencies, the inlet and outlet ports can be switched by applying different driving frequency voltages to the transducer. Further, changing the voltage applied to the transducer regulates the flow rate. The vibration characteristics of a fabricated three-way valve were evaluated. The resonance frequencies at the inlet and outlet ports were 110 kHz and 168 kHz, respectively, and the vibration speed increased with an increase in the applied voltage, indicating that the three-way valve can switch the opening port by changing the driving frequency as well as control the flow rate. Furthermore, we successfully drove an actuator with the fabricated small three-way valve.
AB - In this study, a small flow valve for controlling hydraulic actuators was developed. Recently, robot actuators have been used at sites where humans cannot enter, e.g., disaster sites. However, the control system of a multi-degree-of-freedom mechanism requires many control components, consequently increasing the size of the system, which can be a problem. This paper describes the fabrication and evaluation of a small three-way valve particle excitation valve driven by a single piezoelectric transducer. The three-way valve comprises one transducer and two control valves. Because the two valves have different resonant frequencies, the inlet and outlet ports can be switched by applying different driving frequency voltages to the transducer. Further, changing the voltage applied to the transducer regulates the flow rate. The vibration characteristics of a fabricated three-way valve were evaluated. The resonance frequencies at the inlet and outlet ports were 110 kHz and 168 kHz, respectively, and the vibration speed increased with an increase in the applied voltage, indicating that the three-way valve can switch the opening port by changing the driving frequency as well as control the flow rate. Furthermore, we successfully drove an actuator with the fabricated small three-way valve.
KW - Control valve
KW - Hydraulics
KW - Micro-mechanism
KW - Piezoelectric element
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U2 - 10.1016/j.sna.2020.112363
DO - 10.1016/j.sna.2020.112363
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85093645038
VL - 316
JO - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
JF - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
SN - 0924-4247
M1 - 112363
ER -