A circuit for driving a plurality of capacitive actuators, the circuit having a low-voltage side, a high voltage side and a flyback transformer between the two. The low-voltage side comprises first and second pairs of low-side switches connected in series across an input voltage. The flyback transformer has a primary winding connected to the two pairs of switches. The high-voltage side has a pair of switches connected between the secondary winding of the flyback transformer and a ground and a plurality of capacitive loads and bidirectional switches to connect the loads to the secondary winding of the flyback transformer and a ground.

Piezoelectric actuators have been used successfully to enable locomotion in aerial and ambulatory microrobotic platforms. However, the use of piezoelectric actuators presents two major challenges for power electronic design: generating high-voltage drive signals in systems typically powered by low-voltage energy sources, and recovering unused energy from the actuators. Due to these challenges, conventional drive circuits become too bulky or inefficient in low mass applications. This work describes electrical characteristics and drive requirements of low mass piezoelectric actuators, the design and optimization of suitable drive circuit topologies, aspects of the physical instantiation of these topologies, including the fabrication of extremely lightweight magnetic components, and a custom, ultra low power integrated circuit that implements control functionality for the drive circuits. The principles and building blocks presented here enable efficient high-voltage drive circuits that can satisfy the stringent weight and power requirements of microrobotic applications.

A dual-channel, low power control IC for driving high voltage piezoelectric actuators in a flapping-wing robotic insect is presented. The IC controls milligram-scale power electronics that meet the stringent weight and power requirements of aerial microrobots. Designed in a 0.13µm CMOS process, the IC implements an efficient control algorithm to drive piezoelectric actuators with high temporal resolution while consuming <100µW during normal operation at 1.0V. Keywords: low power, SOC, high voltage, piezoelectric actuator, and microrobotics.

Flapping-wing robotic insects are small, highly maneuverable flying robots inspired by biological insects and useful for a wide range of tasks, including exploration, environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and surveillance. Recently, robotic insects driven by piezoelectric actuators have achieved the important goal of taking off with external power; however, fully autonomous operation requires an ultralight power supply capable of generating high-voltage drive signals from low-voltage energy sources. This paper describes high-voltage switching circuit topologies and control methods suitable for driving piezoelectric actuators in flapping-wing robotic insects and discusses the physical implementation of these topologies, including the fabrication of custom magnetic components by laser micromachining and other weight minimization techniques. The performance of laser micromachined magnetics and custom-wound commercial magnetics is compared through the experimental realization of a tapped inductor boost converter capable of stepping up a 3.7V Li-poly cell input to 200V. The potential of laser micromachined magnetics is further shown by implementing a similar converter weighing 20mg (not including control functionality) and capable of up to 70mW output at 200V and up to 100mW at 100V.

Compact yet powerful actuators are vital in many robotic applications, particularly small-scale autonomous systems such as bio-inspired microrobots. In recent years, a number of actuation methods have been proposed or applied in a microrobotic context, including piezoelectric [1], electrostatic [2], and dielectric elastomer actuators [3]. These actuation methods have the potential to achieve high efficiencies and power densities in very small geometries. Piezoelectric actuators in particular have shown promise in applications with very stringent weight and power density requirements, such as the Harvard Microrobotic Fly (HMF)—a flapping-wing robotic insect capable of liftoff with external power [4].

In order to produce mechanical output, the actuation methods mentioned above rely on the presence of electric charge on various electrodes in order to either generate high electric fields, as in the case of piezoelectric actuators, or high electrostatic forces, as in the case of electrostatic and dielectric elastomer actuators. Moreover, the geometries of such actuators inherently produce significant electrical capacitance, and therefore high operating voltages are usually necessary to accumulate a sufficient amount of charge on the actuator electrodes, ranging from tens to thousands of volts. For example, the piezoelectric actuators used in the HMF require drive voltages in the range of 200–300V. There are two major challenges in the design of power electronics capable of driving capacitive actuators: generating high voltages from low-voltage sources and recovering unused energy from the actuator.

Most compact energy sources suitable for microrobotic applications, such as lithium batteries, supercapacitors [5], solar cells [6], and fuel cells [7], generate output voltages below 5V. Connecting many such cells in series to obtain high voltage is generally not practical because the packaging overhead causes a significant reduction in energy density. Consequently, the generation of high voltages for HMF actuators requires voltage conversion circuits with step-up ratios ranging from 50 to 100. While there are a number of circuit topologies with high step-up ratios, many of them cannot be easily miniaturized and/or suffer from poor efficiency at the low output power levels common in microrobotic applications. Careful selection and optimization of the conversion circuit is necessary to ensure that heavy, inefficient electronics do not compromise system performance.

In addition to the voltage step-up functionality, the power electronics circuitry must generate a time-varying signal on the input electrodes of the actuator. The second challenge stems from the fact that, depending on the properties of the actuator, the nature of the mechanical load, and the characteristics of the drive signal, only a small fraction of the electrical energy stored in the actuator is converted into useful mechanical output [8]. In order to maximize overall system efficiency, it is highly desirable to both generate an appropriate drive signal and recover as much of the unused energy as possible, which imposes additional requirements on the drive circuitry.

This paper describes promising power electronics circuits that can generate the high, time-varying voltages necessary for the operation of piezoelectric actuators, while meeting the stringent weight requirements of microrobotic systems and maximizing system efficiency. Although the analysis focuses on piezoelectric actuators, many of the concepts described here can easily be adapted to other high-voltage capacitive actuators, such as electrostatic comb drives or dielectric elastomer actuators. This work reviews the electrical properties and drive requirements of piezoelectric actuators (Section II), and presents power electronics circuits applicable to various types and configurations of piezoelectric actuators (Sections III and IV). Experimental realizations of the drive circuits are described (Section V), including applications to milligram-scale microrobots, such as flapping-wing robotic insects.

Flapping-wing robotic insects require actuators with high power densities at centimeter to micrometer scales. Due to the low weight budget, the selection and design of the actuation mechanism needs to be considered in parallel with the design of the power electronics required to drive it. This paper explores the design space of flapping-wing microrobots weighing 1g and under by determining mechanical requirements for the actuation mechanism, analyzing potential actuation technologies, and discussing the design and realization of the required power electronics. Promising combinations of actuators and power circuits are identified and used to estimate microrobot performance.
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