Improving the Power Consumption Characteristics of Piezoelectric Actuators

Abstract

A study of the application of power factor correction methods to piezoceramic actua tors is performed. The power factor is corrected by adding an inductor both parallel to and in series with the piezoceramic actuator. The actuator consists of two lead zirconate titanate (PZT) patches mounted symmetrically to a cantilever beam. The inductance values were chosen such that each inductor-capacitor (LC) circuit was at resonance at the second natural frequency of the beam. Imple menting the parallel LC circuit reduced the current consumption of the piezoceramic actuator by 75 % when compared to the current consumption of the actuator used without an inductor. Imple menting the series LC circuit produced a 300 % increase in the voltage applied to the actuator com pared to the case when no inductor was used. In both cases, employing power factor correction methods corrected the power factor to near unity and reduced the apparent power by 12 dB. A theo retical model of each circuit was developed, and the analytical and empirical results are virtually identical. The results of this study can be used to synthesize circuits to modify piezoceramic actua tors, reducing the voltage or current requirements of the amplifiers used to drive those actuators.

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