Design and investigation of a new piezoelectric beam transportation device based on two-mode excitation

A new piezoelectric beam transportation device is designed and its dynamic characteristics are investigated for object transportation in this paper. Based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and Lagrange equation, the theoretical model is established, in which Chebyshev polynomials are adopted as the admissible displacement function. First, The correctness of the model was verified by ANSYS software, and good convergence and accuracy were shown. Then, the influence of excitation parameters and piezoelectric patches on traveling wave generation was studied by response simulation. And finally, The effects of excitation frequency, voltage amplitude, phase, position, and the number of supporting legs on transportation speed were investigated by setting up an experimental device. The results indicated that excitation parameters impact transportation speed extremely. What's more, the excitation frequency should be the median of adjacent natural frequencies, and the phase should be orthogonal for transportation speed and stability in unison.