Abstract
In this paper, the Finite Element Method (FEM) is proposed for application to a real-time control system of connected piezoelectric actuators, assuming an actuator as finite elements, which are mainly used in the field of computational mechanics. The FEM is capable of expressing the state of an entire system by stiffness equations, and can cope flexibly with lack or disability of constituent elements of the system by controlling the stiffness matrices. An inverse analysis program using the FEM, combined with the empirical formulae considering time-dependent characteristics of the piezoelectric material, is implemented into a parallel control system. The system is verified by the experiments on quasi-static displacement control of connected piezoelectric actuators. The results show the possibility of highly accurate, real-time control of the actuators using the FEM.