*3.3.6 Stack actuators*

Multiple piezoelectric elements will be stacked to replace the displacement achieved for a given voltage. These types of devices are known as stack actuators (**Figure 5**), and they are employed in variety of specialty applications. Compared to

**Figure 4.** *Piezoelectric ultrasonic cleansers.*

conventional electromagnetic actuators, stack actuators have the following unique advantages:


These actuators find their uses in proportioning valves, electrical relays, optical modulation, vibration dampening, and other applications requiring fast or precise control of movement.

**3.6 Ultrasonic procedures**

*Piezoelectricity and Its Applications*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96154*

*3.7.1 Piezoelectric printers*

*3.7.1.1 A dot-matrix printer*

times [13].

**Figure 7.**

*Ultrasonic procedures.*

printouts.

**83**

*3.7.1.2 Inkjet printer*

*3.7.2 Piezoelectric speakers*

Some non-invasive medical procedures rely on the use of focused ultrasonic

Additionally, the advent of the harmonic scalpel has enabled surgeons to simultaneously incise and coagulate tissue during a surgical procedure without the need for cauterization. This leads to less tissue damage, less blood loss, and faster healing

Consumer electronics and technology that is sold in stores throughout the coun-

In a piezoelectric dot matrix printer (**Figure 8**), piezoelectric actuators in the

In a piezoelectric inkjet printer, piezoelectric actuators in the printer head act on

Piezoelectric speakers are featured in virtually every application that needs to efficiently produce sound from a small electronic gadget. These types of speakers

small diaphragms or otherwise change the geometry of an inkwell so that ink droplets are forced out of an orifice onto paper. This is one of the dominant

technologies in the printer market to date (**Figure 9**).

There are two main types of printers that use piezoelectric actuators:

printer head move needle-like pins that "poke" through a strip of ink tape (similar to a typewriter) against a piece of paper in various patterns to form characters. For most applications, the use of dot-matrix printers has been superseded by other technologies. However, a dot-matrix printer is the only printer technology capable of generating duplicate and triplicate carbon-copy

waves to break up kidney stones or destroy malignant tissue (**Figure 7**).

**3.7 Piezoelectric actuators in consumer electronics**

try, has piezoelectric actuators used in them.
