Design of a PZT bimorph actuator using a metamodel-based approach

The design of a variable thickness piezoelectric bimorph actuator for application to minimally invasive surgery is proposed. The actuator is discretized into five segments along its length, where the thicknesses of the segments are used as design variables in the problem of optimizing both the force and deflection at the tip. Metamodeling techniques are used to construct computationally inexpensive approximations of finite element simulations and to rapidly explore the design space and the Pareto frontier. A prototype device and experimental verification of the analytical results are also discussed.