- AJIT

According to GM..
A self-actuating device includes a member in physical communication with a vehicle surface and an actuator. The member is configured to have at least a first form and a second form, wherein one of the first form and the second form is configured to stow the member and the other of the first form and the second form is configured to present the member. The actuator is in operable communication with the member. The actuator is actuated upon receipt of an activation signal and is effective to transition the member from one of the forms to another of the forms.

LVDT-based self-actuating displacement transducer A novel linear actuator with inherent sensing capabilities is developed from a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT). By superposition of dc currents upon high-frequency excitation signals, the coils of the LVDT are capable of exerting a push/pull force on the armature while retaining the original displacement-sensing function. LC resonant circuits and active bandpass filters are designed to effectively isolate the sensing signals from the dc energizing sources. Linearity and sensitivity of the device are largely preserved compared to the original LVDT.

For actuation, it is found that the magnetic force on the armature can be maximized by energizing a specific combination of the three coils according to armature positions. A simple control algorithm is developed for closed-loop control. It is implemented with an 8-bit microcomputer. Real-time testing shows that rest-to-rest control can be achieved with positioning errors of 0.020.04 mm and settling time below 0.2s .

THE AKIYAMA PROBE

It features a symmetrical arrangement of a U-shaped silicon cantilever attached to the two prongs of a quartz tuning fork. The tuning fork serves as an oscillatory force sensor that governs the tip vibration frequency as well as the amplitude and ensures a high mechanical Q-factor. The force constant of the probe is determined by the cantilever and can be adjusted independently from the resonance frequency. The Akiyama-probe requires neither optical detection, nor an external shaker. A-Probe occupies only a small volume above the sample. These features make it very attractive for creating a new generation of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) instruments.

THE AKIYAMA PROBE

Mercury vapor detection with a self-sensing, resonating piezoelectric cantilever A microcantilever with an integrated piezoelectric film is demonstrated as a mercury vapor detector. The cantilever is self-sensing and self-actuating, and therefore does not need alignment of an external, optical detection system. This gives the new sensor system an advantage in array applications. Mercury vapor, when adsorbed onto gold on the cantilever, causes the stiffness, and therefore the natural frequency, of the cantilever to increase as a result of mercury gold amalgamation. This shift is detected using the piezoelectric portion of the cantilever in conjunction with a bridge circuit and amplifier

For frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM) which has three electrodes: an actuating electrode, a sensing electrode, and a ground electrode. By applying an ac signal on the actuating electrode, the cantilever is set to vibrate. If the frequency of actuation voltage closely matches one of the characteristic frequencies of the cantilever, a sharp resonance should be observed. The vibration of the cantilever in turn generates a current on the sensing electrode.

The arrangement of the electrodes is such that the cross-talk capacitance between the actuating electrode and the sensing electrode is less than 1016 F, thus the direct coupling is negligible. To verify the principle, a number of samples were made. Direct measurements with a Nanosurf easyPPL controller and detector showed that for each cantilever, one or more vibrational modes can be excited and detected. Using classical theory of elasticity, it is shown that such novel cantilevers with proper dimensions can provide optimized performance and sensitivity in FM-AFM with very simple electronics.