Abstract
As piezoelectric actuators are developed for high strokes and/or high force applications, the amount of piezoelectric material used in the actuator must also increase. Reducing the size of drive electronics becomes difficult using traditional linear power electronics packages when applications require as much as 40 μF of piezoelectric load. In order to efficiently drive piezoelectric actuator systems, bi-directional systems (drivers that recover the energy put into the piezoelectric capacitor) must be used. Since less than 10% of the power going into the piezoelectric actuator is real versus the large reactive load used to power the piezoelectric materials, bidirectional systems have a much higher efficiency. A comparison is made between traditional linear and PWM amplifier systems and tailored piezoelectric bi-directional driver systems. Bi-directional systems have power dissipation levels up to 1/8th those of traditional linear amplifier systems. In the course of the research both linear and PWM concepts were investigated. A rationale for comparing the overall efficiency of drive electronics systems is presented. Some innovative efficient concepts for piezoelectric system drivers are presented and discussed.
High-voltage switch-mode assisted linear amplifier based voltage source for dielectric low frequency-domain spectroscopy measurements
