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Optimal design of a smart post-buckled beam actuator using bat algorithm: simulations and experiments

The optimized design of a smart post-buckled beam actuator (PBA) is performed in this study. A smart material based piezoceramic stack actuator is used as a prime-mover to drive the buckled beam actuator. Piezoceramic actuators are high force, small displacement devices; they possess high energy density and have high bandwidth. In this study, bench top experiments are conducted to investigate the angular tip deflections due to the PBA. A new design of a linear-to-linear motion amplification device (LX-4) is developed to circumvent the small displacement handicap of piezoceramic stack actuators. LX-4 enhances the piezoceramic actuator mechanical leverage by a factor of four. The PBA model is based on dynamic elastic stability and is analyzed using the Mathieu–Hill equation. A formal optimization is carried out using a newly developed meta-heuristic nature inspired algorithm, named as the bat algorithm (BA). The BA utilizes the echolocation capability of bats. An optimized PBA in conjunction with LX-4 generates end rotations of the order of 15° at the output end. The optimized PBA design incurs less weight and induces large end rotations, which will be useful in development of various mechanical and aerospace devices, such as helicopter trailing edge flaps, micro and nano aerial vehicles and other robotic systems.