Piezo Drive Solutions
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MORE COMPACT Piezo Drive Solutions FOR MEDICAL ENGINEERING

Piezo Technology – Find Out, What’s Inside: Advanced Technology with Global Orientation As a privately run company with a healthy growth rate, over 700 employees and a flexible, vertically integrated organization, PI can meet the most diverse requirements in the area of innovative micropositioning and nanopositioning technology and supply customers anywhere in the world with outstanding products. PI develops and manufactures precision positioning solutions for all important markets: ■ Semiconductor Technology Biotechnology and Medical Engineering Laser, Optics, Microscopy Precision...

Piezo Drive Solutions for Medical Engineering Medical engineering and related life-science disciplines have a multi-faceted requirements profile for the motion drives employed: The spectrum goes from high-precision positioning systems to simple drive components which are compact, fast, reliable and energy-saving. In these fields as well, progress goes hand in hand with an increasing miniaturization. Piezoceramic drives are perfect for both these applications. Piezo technology as drive solution has proven itself for a long time in optical metrology, micromachining and semiconductor industry....

Compact Design and High Performance for Micropumps Micro-diaphragm pumps with dimensions of a few millimeters require compact drives which can provide a continuous flow and variable flow rates. The small volumes per pumping cycle mean high cycle rates of up to several 10 kHz are necessary to achieve high flow rates. Disk-shaped piezo elements from PI Ceramic can be mounted directly on the diaphragm to deflect it. Larger ranges or forces can be achieved if a diaphragm or a piston is coupled directly to a piezoelectric linear drive. Piezo technology offers: ■ Flexible Designs and drive...

Piezoceramic disks can be attached to the membrane of a micropump and thus move it with high frequency. The continuous, slow motion of infusion pumps can also be generated with piezo drives.

Precision and Dynamics for Nanodispensers The drives used for nanoliter or picoliter dosing devices must operate with high operating frequencies of up to several kHz and at the same time produce the kinetic energy required to generate tiny droplets without subsequent dripping, nebulization or satellite formation. Piezo actuators are ideal for this: They can switch valves directly, and can also work against a closing spring or a flexible tube for volume displacement. Piezo technology offers: ■ ■ High force generation, high acceleration, high operating frequencies No friction, no maintenance,...

Here a piezo actuator opens and closes a valve. For greater stroke the piezo motion is amplified by levers. Lift and opening duration determine the metered amount. Alternatively, the piezo doses directly in peristaltic displacement methods.

Uniform Force while Pipetting Very small but fast drives are required to pipette with smaller and smaller devices and sample separations. At the same time they must produce sufficient force to move the pipettes in the vertical direction and to dose the media. This is not a problem for piezo motors. They operate with a tiny footprint as a direct linear drive and can generate high forces. The forward motion occurs with uniform speed and can be controlled with micrometer accuracy. Piezo technology offers: ■ ■ Depending on application requirement: Fast, precise, powerful High throughput by high...

A compact piezo motor pushes the pipette to the target position and then moves the piston. The volumes can be varied.

Generation of Homogenous Aerosols Medication specially formulated for the respiratory tract can be gently administered using atomizers. For accurate dosing and optimum efficacy, it is necessary to produce particularly homogenous aerosols. Specially shaped piezo membranes generate a uniform, high-frequency ultrasonic oscillation which quickly and efficiently produces droplets of a predefined size. Piezo technology offers: ■ Flexible designs: Rings, disks or small plates Flexible modes of motion: Bending, arching, longitudinal or shearing motion High force generation, high acceleration and high...

An annular piezo disk excites a perforated membrane with oscillations up to 100 kilohertz. Medication is thus quickly and efficiently atomized.

Reliable Flow Measurement and Bubble Detection Dialysis or blood transfusions are vital and highly sensitive processes. Amongst other things, it is important to recognize air bubbles or impurities quickly and reliably. Ultrasound sensors made of piezo elements work without direct contact to the medium and need no maintenance. The sensors capture the flow velocity or they are used in Air Bubble Detectors (ABD) to detect bubbles. Piezo technology offers: ■ Flexible, compact designs: Rings, disks, small plates Flexible ranges, high force generation and acceleration No friction, no maintenance,...

The piezo element works both as an ultra-sound generator and a sensor. The measurement method uses the Doppler effect: Oscillations with a few 100 kHz are reflected by the medium and reabsorbed. Frequency offsets and changes in the reflection image reliably show throughput rate and air bubbles.

Precision in Visualization and Microscopy Visualization is just as important in medical diagnostics as it is for example in the manufacture of implants or artificial limbs. Screening employs microscopy methods to visualize time-dependent changes caused by active agents in different dosages. With implants, optical measuring methods produce three-dimensional CAD models, making impressions unnecessary, for example. All these applications involve the movement of lenses and objects or samples. Piezo actuators and positioning systems are just what is needed here. PI‘s positioning systems offer: ■...

HIGH FORCE Increased Efficiency for Diagnostics and Therapy Automated processes are a step towards more efficiency – in medical engineering as well. Diagnosis and therapy get quicker and more precise and with that are more gentle for patients. Piezo drives have many application fields, for example laser beam control in cosmetic applications and ophthalmology, where they move tip/tilt stages or linear scanners and lenses with precision. Six-axis hexapod systems support surgeons in their work – they move and guide instruments or endoscopes with precision, or precisely position patients under a...