Capacitor Ladder Circuitry for Improving Electrical Energy Transfer Efficiency to Electromechanical Actuators
Name
murphy-trmurphy-sm-meche-2024-thesis.pdf
Description
Thesis PDF
Size
4.02 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
311f1cc79ea5ff2b4034ae012bb91811
Author(s)
Murphy, Trevor
Advisor(s)
Brisson, John G.
Date Issued
May 2024
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This paper focuses on the general process of taking electrical energy from a power source to a mechanical system to do mechanical work, specifically focusing on a ladder circuit to deliver energy to a capacitive-type actuator that is modeled as a mass-spring-damper (MSD) system. The whole chain of power conversion involves an electrical transfer efficiency and a mechanical energy conversion efficiency. The first chapter walks through the motivation and failure to build a dielectric elastomeric as a MSD test system. The second chapter details the electrical problem defining what a capacitive-type actuator is, what the electromechanical actuation process entails from an abstract perspective, and an efficiency metric. The third chapter reviews how inductors offer a solution and how at certain size scales they lose efficacy. The fourth chapter introduces the ladder circuit as a solution to the electrical energy transfer. Chapters 5 and 6 detail electrical experiments and modeling of the circuit to characterize the efficiency of the electromechanical process. Lastly, chapter 7 concludes with discussions of applicability of the ladder circuit solution.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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