High Power Density Piezoelectric Actuator for Helicopter Gearbox Noise Cancellation

A requirement exists to cancel structure-borne noise from helicopter gear boxes by attacking the source of the noise with a high power density single axis actuator. A major requirement is to provide a high force capability in the high power desity package and have it be applicable to a bandwidth of 1000 to 4000 Hz. Among the candidates are ceramic, ceramic composite, magnetosrtictive and electroreological fluid technology. While existing systems can produce high forces, the weight and size of these systems is far too great to be useful. Benthos, a leader in the development and manufacture of piezoelectric driven devices, in corporation with other engineering specialists in high power density actuators, proposes to develop two high force actuators using piezoeletric and magnetostrictive actuators. Each of these will be tailored to optimize their force/weight properties, and will be tested side by side to determine the optimum configuration for the application. The objective of the study is to develop a working prototype of two tested, highly reliable actuator materials in a configuration which will be as close to a working model as feasible in this first phase. From the results of the subsequent analysis, a design will be submitted for a refined version of the actuator to be built and tested in anticipation of the FSD phase of the project.