High Displacement Ceramic Metal Composite Actuators (Moonies)

The two most common type of piezoelectric actuators are the multilayer actuator with internal electrodes and the cantilevered bimorph actuator[1]. A new type of composite ceramic actuator is the multilayered multistacked moonie (multi-multi moonie). Normal multilayer actuators produce a large generative force, but only a small displacement. Conversely, bimorphs produce large displacements but the forces are very small. The moonie actuator combines the advantages of both, producing a large displacement as well as a reasonably large generative force.