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Piezo actuators to enable high-resolution cosmic dust analysis
| A world of piezoelectric actuators Long caption: Cedrat Technologies is a high technology French SME company and specialists in innovative solutions for micro positioning and vibration damping with piezoelectric actuators. The company commenced operating in this field back in 1989 by carrying out research and development into piezo electric actuators. In 1995, Cedrat Technologis began the development of piezo active actuators for the French Space Agency (CNES) for vibration damping of optics in satellites. For ESA, the company produced the XYZ piezo scanning mechanism for Rosette MIDAS instrument.
Credits: Cedrat Technologies | |  |  | |
| | | | | Cedrat Technologies have advanced laboratories, clean-room assembly areas and thermal-vacuum chambers, for magnetic and electro-mechanics research and development.
Credits: Cedrat Technologies | | | | |
| | | | | | Cedrat Technologies today manufacture 30 different standard amplified piezo actuators (APA). The smallest exhibits a 28-μm stroke with a height of only 6 mm in the direction of actuation. Linear and rotating piezo motors offer micro-positioning on long-stroke of more than 100 mm, with blocking at rest in any position. APAs can provide innovative solutions in many fields, including:
Optics: positioning of mirrors or lenses, focusing, laser cavity tuning, alignment or deformation of fibres, deformation of fiber Bragg gratings (FBG), scanners, choppers, interferometers and modulators.
Mechanics: positioning of tools, clamps, active wedges, damping, active control and generation of ultrasonic or sonic vibrations.
Fluids: proportional valves, pumps, measuring, injections, ink jet and droplet generators.
Electronics: positioning of masks, wafers or magnetic heads, non-magnetic actuation and circuit breakers.
Credits: Cedrat Technologies | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | The flight model of the piezo scanning mechanism produced by Cedrat Technologies and developed to ESA for integration into the MIDAS instrument for the Rosetta spacecraft. The hearth of MIDAS is the scanning mechanism that is build with Cedrat Technologies amplified piezo actuators. Eight APA50S are arranged to provide a travel motion of 100 µm along the X and Y directions. The Z-axis is a customised parallel pre-stressed actuator which provides a stroke of 8 µm. To protect the scanner against the high vibrations during launch, a special locking mechanism had to be developed and qualified. The whole mechanism includes 100 parts and weights less than 500 grams.
Credits: Cedrat Technologies | | | | |
| | | | | Fine mechanical stability in a free-floating space structures is difficult to achieve because of their large sizes. The Belgium company Micromega Dynamics with Université de Bruxelles and Cedrat Technologies demonstrated in 2001 with the ARCOP project that the piezo technology is very good for damping micro vibrations in free-floating structures.
Credits: Micromega Dynamics | | | | |
| | | | | The ARCOP test structure obtains the vibration damping with Cedrat Technologies’ APA100M amplified piezo actuators. The active damping result is very clearly shown in the impulse response graph above. Without control the impulse results in a classical vibration dyeing slowly (red), while with control by APAs the vibration is damped much faster (blue).
Credits: Cedrat Technologies | | | | |
| | | | | This drawing illustrates where amplified piezo actuators can be located on a helicopter wing to achieve flaps control and damping of vibration and noise. The first test results performed by the French aerospace research centre ONERA are very promising and the Cedrat Technologies’ APAs proved to be robust and strong in energy density, a key characteristic.
Credits: Cedrat Technologies | | | | |
| | | | | Cedrat Technologies’ staff includes 20 engineers and PhDs in mechanics, electronics, electromechanical and electrical engineering.
Credits: Cedrat Technologies | | | | |
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| | More information Cedrat Technologies' homepageMIDASRosettaESA spotlight on Small and Medium Sized EnterprisesRelated links ESA's SME InitiativeEuropean Space Industry Directory (ESID)Electronic Mail Invitation to Tender System (EMITS)ESA Industry Portal
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