Shared inductor hybrid topology for weight constrained piezoelectric actuators

This paper presents a new circuit topology designed to minimise the weight of the control circuit required to actuate multiple piezoelectric actuators. It can independently set the phase and bias voltage on each piezoelectric actuator through the use of a single inductor. This is highly desirable in weight constrained applications such as unmanned aerial vehicles as the ferroelectric material required for the inductor is heavy. Furthermore, the circuit topology can also use the same inductor to generate the high bias voltage required to drive the actuators. The full system has been verified in PSpice and a pair of piezoelectric actuators have been successfully driven using off the shelf components.