Capacitor Ladder Circuitry for Improving Electrical Energy Transfer Efficiency to Electromechanical Actuators

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.