Piezoelectric actuator with strain-reducing structures

Abstract

A piezoelectric actuator has stacked ceramic layers of a piezoelectric material and electrodes situated between the layers to form a piezoelectric stack and having at least one structure that reduces the mechanical strain occurring in the piezoelectric stack. The strain reducing structure is comprised of a strain-reducing layer equipped with recesses and is typically situated between the ceramic layers. In particular, the recesses of the strain-reducing layer are situated in an outer region of the layer and is comprised of a notch which significantly reduce the mechanical strains inside the actuator.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.