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 Smart Materials and Structures

Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 (12pp) https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-665X/aca18a

A new symmetrical Z-shaped compliant

linear actuator based on parasitic
motion principle
Yanlin Xie, Yangmin Li∗ and Benny Chifai Cheung
State Key Laboratory of Ultra-Precision Machining Technology, Department of Industrial and Systems
Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region of China

E-mail: [email protected]

Received 30 August 2022, revised 20 October 2022

Accepted for publication 9 November 2022
Published 18 November 2022

Abstract
To meet the demand of designing piezoelectric actuators with long working stroke and high
resolution, a new parasitic motion principle (PMP) linear actuator based on the symmetrical
Z-shaped compliant mechanism was proposed in this paper. The mechanism design and the
operation principle of the proposed linear actuator were elaborated. The theoretical model of the
symmetrical Z shaped compliant mechanism deformation was established, and was verified by
the simulation analysis. Experimental studies were conducted on a manufactured prototype to
investigate the performances of the proposed linear actuator. The results indicate that a linear
actuator with bi-directional motion can be achieved, which has a resolution of 106 nm in the
forward direction and 84 nm in the reverse direction. Under the locking force of 0.8 N, the
maximum speed of 270 µm s−1 was reached, when the amplitude and the frequency of the
driving voltage were set to 60 V and 650 Hz. It is also noted that the proposed linear actuator
can work with a loading capacity of 25 g. This study has provided an alternative way for the
development of a PMP linear actuator with bi-directional motion.
Keywords: piezoelectric actuators, parasitic motion principle, linear actuator,
symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism

(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction help of compliant amplification mechanisms [7–9], they are

still limited and insufficient in some practical applications.
Precision positioning technologies based on piezoelectric To further improve the working strokes of the PEAs,
actuators (PEAs) are widely used in many applications such stepping PEAs were developed by many researchers. For the
as precision machining [1, 2], microscope [3, 4], multi-degree- stepping PEAs, the end-effectors (sliders) can easily achieve
of-freedom systems [5] and micro manipulation [6], owing to working strokes up to millimeter or centimeter with high res-
their merits of quick response, high resolution and compact olution by accumulating the step motion in each cycle, and
structure. However, the commercial PEAs generally have lim- they can even obtain infinite working strokes theoretically as
ited output displacements of several or tens of microns, hinder- long as the sliders are long enough. For instance, when the
ing their further application in both academic and industrial end-effector is a rotary slider, it can continuously rotate [10,
fields to some extent. Although the working strokes of the 11]. Ultrasonic actuators [12–14], inchworm actuators [15, 16]
PEAs can be enlarged to tens or hundreds of microns with the and stick-slip actuators [17–19] are commonly used stepping
PEAs. Among all these stepping PEAs, stick-slip actuators are
∗
Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. popular for their simple structures and control systems.

1361-665X/22/125017+12$33.00 Printed in the UK 1 © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd

Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Taking stick-slip actuators driven by sawtooth wave signals 2. Mechanism design and operation principle
as examples, they are commonly composed of two phases in
each cycle, namely stick phase and slip phase. At the stick The PMP linear actuator is mainly composed of a symmet-
phase, the deformed stator sticks with the slider, generating rical Z-shaped compliant mechanism, a cross slider, a pre-
a forward motion, which is corresponding to the gradually load mechanism and a base, as illustrated in figure 1. Both the
increasing period of the sawtooth wave driving voltage. At the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism and the preload
slip phase, the recuperative stator slips on the slider, generat- mechanism are fixed on the base. The cross slider is mounted
ing a backward motion, which is corresponding to the rapid on the preload mechanism, so that the position of slider can
drop period of the sawtooth wave driving voltage. The back- be adjusted to contact with the driving foot of the symmetrical
ward motion generated in the rapidly drop period is smaller Z-shaped compliant mechanism with different locking forces.
than the forward motion due to the inertia of the slider and a Two PEAs are embedded in the symmetrical Z-shaped com-
net forward motion of the slider can be obtained. Hence, a long pliant mechanism with the bolts for tuning the preload force.
working stroke is achieved by accumulating the net forward As shown in figure 2, the operation principle of the pro-
motion in each cycle. Based on this principle, a linear nan- posed actuator is illustrated in detail as follows. Taking the
opositioning stage driven by the stick-slip actuator had been positive X-axis (forward) direction as an example, a periodic
successfully developed, which could achieve a motion range sawtooth wave voltage is merely exerted on the PEA1, and the
of 35 µm [17]. In order to restrain the backward motion at the PEA1 extends and contracts correspondingly. The driving foot
slip phase, anisotropic-friction surfaces were introduced in the of the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism keeps still
design of the stick-slip actuator. The results showed that both at t0 moment, since no voltage is applied on the PEAs. From t0
the step efficiency and loading capability of the actuator had to t1 , the PEA1 extends slowly with the gradually increasing
been improved [18]. In addition, the backward motion of the voltage exerted on it, and the driving foot drives the cross slider
stick-slip actuator was also successfully alleviated by adopt- toward the forward direction with the static friction due to the
ing a new hybrid driving method with the combination of a deformation of the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechan-
sawtooth wave at the slip phase and a sinusoidal regulation ism. This is known as stick phase. From t1 to t2 , the PEA1
wave [19]. contracts rapidly with the voltage exerted on it dropping to
The parasitic motion principle (PMP) actuator is an zero in a sudden, and thus the driving foot of the symmetrical
improved stick-slip actuator, which has drawn lots of atten- Z-shaped compliant mechanism moves the slider toward the
tions from researchers in recent years. As the parasitic motion negative X-axis (reverse) direction with the kinematic friction.
can increase the static friction force at the stick phase and It is named slip phase. Due to the inertia of the cross slider,
reduce the kinetic friction force at the slip phase between the the generated forward displacement in stick phase is larger
slider and stator, the output performance of the actuator is than backward displacement in slip phase, and thus there is
expected to be improved. Many compliant mechanisms that a net displacement in forward direction in a stick-slip process.
can generate parasitic motions were adopted to design the Based on the same principle, a net displacement in reverse dir-
PMP actuators. Huang et al [20] firstly proposed a PMP actu- ection can be achieved as well, when a periodic sawtooth wave
ator by using the compliant micro-gripper which achieved voltage is merely exerted on the PEA2.
a velocity around 40 µm s−1 . Li et al [21] and Wang et al
[22] developed the PMP actuators based on bridge-type com-
3. Theoretical analysis and simulation validation
pliant mechanisms. A parallelogram-type compliant mechan-
ism based PMP actuator was studied in the literature of [23].
3.1. Theoretical analysis
Trapezoid [24, 25] and triangular [26] compliant mechanisms
were also employed in the design of the PMP actuators. Apart In this section, both theoretical and simulation analysis were
from that, the PMP actuators were widely studied based on conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed symmetrical
other different structures such as Z-shaped [27], L-shaped Z-shaped compliant mechanism, since it is the core compon-
[28], X-shaped [29], arc-shaped [30] etc. ent of the proposed actuator. The main structure parameters
As enumerated above, the development of new structures of the proposed compliant mechanism are given in figure 3.
for PMP actuators are still in demand. In this paper, a symmet- Al 7075 alloy was selected to fabricate the compliant mech-
rical Z-shaped compliant mechanism different from that repor- anism, due to its merits of high elasticity and low density. The
ted in [27] is adopted to develop a novel PMP linear actuator. detail material properties and the specific structure parameter
To the authors’ best knowledge, it is the first time to introduce values are listed in tables 1 and 2, respectively.
such structure in the design of the PMP linear actuator. The As shown in figure 4, the driving foot of the symmetrical
output performances of the newly developed PMP linear actu- Z-shaped compliant mechanism can achieve a motion in the
ator will be comprehensively studied. The rest of this paper X-axis with the parasitic motion along the Y-axis by applying
is organized as follows. Section 2 illustrates the mechanism an input displacement on the input-ends of the mechanism [31,
design and the operation principle of the PMP linear actu- 32]. For instance, when an input displacement is exerted on the
ator; the theoretical analysis and the simulation validation are left input-end of the mechanism, the driving foot moves toward
conducted in section 3; experimental performances are stud- the positive X-axis. In addition, the parasitic motion along the
ied in section 4; and section 5 draws the conclusions of this Y-axis can be also observed due to the bending of the long
paper. beam of the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism.

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Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 1. Configuration of the proposed actuator.

Figure 2. Operation principle of the PMP linear actuator.

The following equations can be determined according to −l2z2 lz1 lz2

a13 = − ,
the energy method [33]: 2EI EI
    ∆x 
a11 a12 a13 Fx 2 lz1 l2z2 3l2z1 lz2 lz2 l2 lz2 8l3
 a21 a22 a23   P  =  ∆y  (1) a21 = + , a22 = + z1 + z1 ,
2EI 2EI EA EI 3EI
a31 a32 a33 M 0
−2l2z1 lz1 lz2
where a23 = − ,
EI EI
2lz1 l3 lz1 l2z2 3l2 lz2 lz1 l2z2 −l2z2 lz1 lz2 −2l2z1 lz1 lz2 2lz1 lz2
a11 = + z2 + , a12 = z1 + , a31 = − , a32 = − , a33 = + .
EA 3EI EI 2EI 2EI 2EI EI EI EI EI EI

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Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 3. Structure parameters of the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism.

Table 1. Material parameters.

Young’s Poisson’s Yield

modulus ratio strength
Material (GPa) (kg m−3 ) Density (δ s (MPa))

Al 7075-T6 71.7 0.33 2.81 × 103 503

Table 2. Architectural parameters of the symmetrical Z-shaped

compliant mechanism.
Symbol Value (mm) Symbol Value (mm)

l1 47 t1 1
l2 125 lz1 10 Figure 4. Working principle of the symmetrical Z-shaped
l3 40 lz2 10 compliant mechanism.
l4 6 tz 1.6
l5 2.5 b 12.2

F x , P and M are the axial reaction force, virtual force and

reaction moment on the compliant mechanism as shown in
figure 5. ∆x is the input displacement applied on the input-end
of the compliant mechanism. ∆x/2 and ∆y are the generated
deformations of the driving foot along the X-axis and the Y-
axis, respectively. lz1 and lz2 are the structural parameters of
the compliant mechanism. The cross-section of the Z-shaped
beam A is equal to tz × b, which are also the structural para-
meters. E and I are the Young’s modulus of material and the
beam moment of inertia, respectively. Figure 5. Schematic of the half symmetrical Z-shaped compliant
With the consideration of the symmetrical structure of the mechanism.
designed compliant mechanism, half of the mechanism is
picked out for establishing the theoretical model, as shown in
figure 5. As a consequence, the deformation of the driving foot along
To simplify the analysis, the symmetrical Z-shaped compli- the X-axis (∆x/2) and the Y-axis (∆y) can be determined by
ant mechanism is separated from the cross slider and thus the using the specific values listed in table 2, when the input dis-
virtual force P is equal to zero. Hence, the generated deform- placement ∆x is assumed to be 6 µm.
ation of the driving foot in the Y-axis can be derived as:
( ∆x ) 2 ∆x/2 = 3 µm (3)
62 lz1
∆y = ( ). (2)
t2
l2z2 + 6lz1 lz2 + 3lzz2 ∆y = 2.55 µm. (4)

4
Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 6. Simulation result of the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism.

3.2. Simulation analysis from Keyence CO.) were used to monitor the output displace-
ment of the actuator, and the measured data was acquired with
To verify the theoretical analysis, the static simulation was
the help of an input model (NI-9201). A personal computer
conducted by using the ANSYS software. In the simulation
was employed to collect the measured data and program for
analysis, details of the selected material were set according to
controlling the output signal in real time.
table 1. The symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism with
Before the tests, the output performance of the symmetrical
same structural parameters as listed in table 2 was adopted.
Z-shaped compliant mechanism was studied with the exper-
Fixed constraints were set to the eight holes and the right input-
imental setup shown in figure 8. Both the output displace-
end of the compliant mechanism. An input displacement of 6
ments along the X-axis and the Y-axis were monitored by laser
um along the positive X-axis was exerted on the left input-end
displacement sensors. The preloads on PEAs were carefully
of the compliant mechanism. Vertical and horizontal deforma-
adjusted by the bolts to improve the consistency of the out-
tions of the driving foot were measured and plotted in figure 6.
put displacements generated by PEA1 and PEA2. A sawtooth
It can be seen that a deformation of 3.31 µm along the X-
wave signal with 60 V and 1 Hz was exerted on PEA1 or PEA2.
axis and a deformation of 2.94 µm along the Y-axis could be
The results are illustrated in figure 9. The output displacements
achieved, when an input displacement of 6 µm was exerted on
of the compliant mechanism driven by both PEAs were close
the left input-end of the compliant mechanism. The maximum
to each other. For instance, the driving foot obtained 3.09 µm
deviation between simulation results and theoretical results is
along the X-axis and 2.32 µm along the Y-axis when it was
smaller than 13.27%, which verifies the validity of the estab-
driven by PEA1, and it obtained 2.93 µm along the X-axis and
lished theoretical model. The results will be further compared
2.16 µm along the Y-axis when it was driven by PEA2. Com-
with the experimental results in next section.
pared with the simulation results in previous section, the max-
imum deviation along the X-axis is 11.48%, and the maximum
deviation along the Y-axis is 26.53%.
4. Experiment and discussion

4.1. Experimental system 4.2. Bi-directional motion and resolution

The prototype of the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mech- A series of experiments were conducted to validate the capab-
anism was monolithically fabricated with the Al 7075 alloy ility of the actuator working in forward direction and reverse
via the wire electrical discharge machining for experiment- direction. The sawtooth waves with the same amplitude of
ally testing its performances. Figure 7 shows the experi- 60 V and different frequencies (1 Hz, 2 Hz, 5 Hz, 10 Hz) were
mental setup of the testing system. An output model (NI- applied on the PEA1 or the PEA2 respectively to obtain for-
9264) embedded in National Instruments (NI) cRIO-9054 ward motion or reverse motion of the slider. The locking force
controller was adopted to generate the sawtooth wave sig- was set to 0.8 N, and the accumulated output displacements in
nal with the help of LabVIEW software. A voltage amplifier 5 s of the slider in both directions were employed to evaluate
(E01.B3, from Core-Tomorrow, CO) was employed to mag- the actuator performance as shown in figure 10. The locking
nify the signal for driving the PEAs (PSt150/7×7/20, from force mentioned here is equal to the force applied on the slider
Core-Tomorrow, CO). Laser displacement sensors (LK-H025, along the motion direction, when the slider is about to move.

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Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 7. Experimental setup.

is about 11.40%. To further observe the stick-slip process,

the forward step motion, backward step motion and net step
motion of the forward and reverse motion with different driv-
ing frequencies are given in figure 11. It seems that the forward
step motion of both directions slightly decreases with increas-
ing frequency, and the net step motion keeps almost constant
at around 1 µm.
The relationship between accumulated output displace-
ments in 5 s and different voltage amplitudes with frequencies
of 1 Hz were also investigated when the locking force was
set to 0.8 N. As shown in figure 12 and table 4, the accumu-
lated output displacements in both motion directions showed
a rising tendency with the increasing voltage amplitudes,
i.e. when the driving voltage varied from 30 to 150 V, the accu-
mulated output displacement in forward direction increased
Figure 8. Experimental setup for testing the output performance of
the symmetrical Z-shaped compliant mechanism. from 2.83 to 9.77 µm and that in reverse direction increased
from 2.62 to 9.11 µm. Such result is consistent with the
step motion plotted in figure 13. With the increase of driving
With the help of the fixed pulley, such force can be easily voltage amplitude, the forward step motion, the backward step
obtained by gradually hanging standard weights on the end of motion and the net step motion were increased. In addition, it
the string until the slider is ready to move. It can be seen from can also be observed that the maximum deviation of the accu-
the table 3 that the actuator can achieve bi-directional motion mulated output displacements between forward direction and
and the accumulated output displacements in both directions reverse direction is 7.42%.
increase with the increasing frequency. This is due to that the In order to discover the resolution of the actuator under a
net step motion generated by the stick-slip process has been locking force of 0.8 N, the amplitude of the driving voltage
accumulated for more times at a higher frequency. The max- with a frequency of 1 Hz was gradually turned down to obtain
imum deviation between forward motion and reverse motion the minimum accumulated output displacements with stable

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Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 9. Output displacements of the driving foot along different directions with the corresponding PEA. (a) PEA1, (b) PEA2.

Table 3. Accumulated output displacements with different

frequencies in 5 s.
1 Hz 2 Hz 5 Hz 10 Hz

Forward (µm) 5.50 12.55 27.88 56.25

Reverse (µm) 5.14 11.37 24.94 49.84
Deviation (%) 6.55 9.40 10.55 11.40

exerted on the PEA1. The effects of different driving frequen-

cies on the actuator were investigated at a driving voltage of
60 V. Figure 15 shows the velocities of the slider at different
frequencies and locking forces. The driving frequencies were
varied from 0 to 850 Hz, and the locking forces were set to
0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 N respectively by adjusting the preload mech-
anism. One can observe that all the velocities increased with
the frequency in the first 200 Hz. A slight drop of velocity
Figure 10. The forward and reverse motion displacements with under the locking force of 1.2 N was occurred after 200 Hz,
different driving frequencies. while slight drops of velocities under the locking forces of 0.4
and 0.8 N were observed after 250 Hz. All velocities increased
again, after the slight drops. The slider velocity under the lock-
step motion in 5 s. It can be observed from figure 14 that the ing force of 0.4 N reached its maximum value of 187 µm s−1 at
minimum accumulated output displacements of the slider of 400 Hz, and then gradually fell to 0 µm s−1 with the frequency
forward motion and reverse motion were 0.53 and 0.42 µm varying from 400 to 850 Hz. Following the increase, the slider
respectively, and thus the corresponding resolutions were 106 velocities under the locking forces of 0.8 and 1.2 N dropped
and 84 nm, when the driving voltage amplitudes were set to again from 350 to 500 Hz and 300 to 500 Hz, respectively.
21 V. However, unlike the slider velocity observed under the lock-
ing force of 0.4 N, dramatic increases of slider velocities were
noticed from 500 to 650 Hz, achieving the maximum velocity
4.3. Motion characteristics under different locking forces and
of 270 µm s−1 followed by sharp drops of velocities from 650
driving voltages
to 850 Hz. Such phenomenon can be linked to the step motion
To further study the motion characteristics of the proposed plotted in figure 16. Obvious increases of step motions under
actuator, its forward direction was picked out for analysis. the locking forces of 0.8 and 1.2 N were observed from 500 to
During the tests, the sawtooth wave driving voltage was only 650 Hz.

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Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 11. The forward, backward and net step motion of the forward and reverse motion with different driving frequencies. (a) Forward,
(b) reverse.

Table 4. Accumulated output displacements with different

frequencies in 5 s.
30 V 60 V 90 V 120 V 150 V

Forward (µm) 2.83 5.50 7.66 9.26 9.77

Reverse (µm) 2.62 5.14 7.15 8.74 9.11
Deviation (%) 7.42 6.55 6.66 5.62 6.76

of 500 Hz under the locking force of 1.2 N is 0. This may

be due to that the mode shape in this case is an out of plane
motion perpendicular to the slider, thus resulting in a motion-
less slider.
The effects of the driving voltage amplitude and locking
forces on the slider velocity were investigated as well at a
driving frequency of 650 Hz, and the results were illustrated
in figure 17. As the driving voltage amplitudes increased from
30 to 150 V, all the velocities of the slider with different lock-
Figure 12. The forward and reverse motion displacements with ing forces presented the growth trend. This can be explained
different driving voltage amplitudes. by the increased step motion provided by the PEA with larger
voltage amplitude. In addition, increasing velocities can also
be observed with the rising locking forces, when the driving
For most of reported literature, the relationship between voltage amplitudes were larger than 60 V. Such phenomenon
the slider motion speed and driving frequency is an N-shaped is similar to the result reported in the literature of [36], in
curve with one peak value. They linked the peak value with which the slider velocities increased with the growing locking
the dynamic performances of the actuator and found that it forces while the driving voltage amplitudes were lager than
occurred at the same frequency with the natural frequency 75 V. However, the slider velocities remained unchanged or
of the actuator [28, 34, 35]. However, an M-shaped curve even reduced with the increase of locking forces from 0.4 to
with two peak values and one valley value between them is 1.2 N, when the driving voltage amplitude was set to 30 V. The
observed in this paper. Such curve was also observed in the resembling result can be observed in [24] and it may be due
literature of [35], and it may be due to the beam structure of to that a larger locking force required a larger starting voltage
the Z-shaped compliant mechanism. Referring to the explana- amplitude.
tion mentioned before, these special values may also relate to
the dynamic performances of the proposed actuator. However,
4.4. Loading capacity
each of them has its own frequency, and different frequency
values correspond to different mode shapes of the actuator. It With the help of a fixed pulley, the horizontal load can be
is worth mentioning that the slider motion speed at the point adjusted by changing the weight at the end of the string, as

8
Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 13. The forward, backward and net step motion of the forward and reverse motion with different driving voltage amplitudes. (a)
Forward, (b) reverse.

Figure 14. The forward and reverse resolutions under 21 V and Figure 15. Output velocity versus driving frequency.
1 Hz.

4.5. Comparison with some existing actuators

shown in figure 7. The relationship between the velocity and The performances comparison between the proposed actuator
the load was tested when the frequency and amplitude of the and other some existing PMP linear actuators are listed in
driving voltage was set to 650 Hz and 60 V, respectively. The table 5. It can be seen from the table that the proposed actu-
results are plotted in figure 18. It can be noted from the figure ator in this paper has an improvement in motion speed com-
that the velocity of the slider decreases with the increasing pared with the earlier reported actuator in the literature of
load. For instance, the velocity of the slider dropped from 270 [20]. The feasibility of the proposed linear actuator working in
µm s−1 to near 0 µm s−1 with the load varying from 0 to 25 g, both forward and reverse directions has been validated, which
when the locking force was set to 0.8 N. It means that the was overlooked by the literature of [25, 28, 36]. This study
actuator is not able to work while the horizontal load is larger has provided an alternative way for developing a PMP lin-
than 25 g. Additionally, it can also be observed that the larger ear actuator with bi-directional motion, although its working
locking force can slightly improve the velocity with the same performances still need to be improved compared with some
load. previously reported PMP linear actuators.

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Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Figure 16. Step motion versus driving frequency.

Figure 17. Output velocity and step motion versus driving voltage amplitude.

Figure 18. Output velocity versus load.

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Smart Mater. Struct. 31 (2022) 125017 Y Xie et al

Table 5. Performances comparison between the proposed actuator References

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