Today's Dielectric Electro Active Polymer (DEAP) actuators utilize high voltage (HV) in the range of kilo volts to fully
stress the actuator. The requirement of HV is a drawback for the general use in the industry due to safety concerns and
HV regulations.
In order to avoid the HV interface to DEAP actuators, a low voltage solution is developed by integrating the driver
electronic into a 110 mm tall cylindrical coreless Push InLastor actuator. To decrease the size of the driver, a
piezoelectric transformer (PT) based solution is utilized. The PT is essentially an improved Rosen type PT with
interleaved sections. Furthermore, the PT is optimized for an input voltage of 24 V with a gain high enough to achieve a
DEAP voltage of 2.5 kV. The PT is simulated and verified through measurements on a working prototype. With the
adapted hysteretic based control system; output voltage wave forms of both impulse response and sinusoidal shapes up to
2.5 kV are demonstrated. The control system, together with a carefully designed HV output stage, contributes to low
power consumption at a static DEAP force. The HV stage consists of a HV measurement circuit and a triple diode
voltage doubler optimized for low leakage current drawn from the DEAP.
As a result, a 95 mm x 13 mm x 7 mm driver is integrated in a 110 mm x 32 mm actuator, forming a low voltage
interfaced DEAP actuator.
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