Hybrid charge control for stick–slip piezoelectric actuators

The article describes an analog electronic circuit for driving stick–slip piezoelectric linear actuators. The task for the amplifier is to provide a high-voltage asymmetric sawtooth-like signal and feed it into a capacitive load. Generation of excessive heat must be avoided while maximizing the slew rate. In order to guarantee a steady translation, the hysteretic behaviour of the piezoelectric material must be compensated. Combination of a charge control scheme with switching is proposed as an efficient solution. Laboratory experiments confirm the superiority of this tailored solution over other existing techniques based on versatile linear voltage amplifiers.

Research highlights
► Asymmetric sawtooth-like high voltage generated by charge feedback and switching.
► Slew rate above 1 kV/μs for a capacitive load of about 1 nF.
► Steady scanning motion by beating hysteresis using a charge amplifier.