Design and development of autonomous high voltage driving system for DEAP actuator in radiator thermostat

In radiator thermostat applications, DEAP (Dielectric Electro Active Polymer) actuator tends to be a good candidate to replace the conventional self-actuating or step motor based actuator due to its intrinsic advantages. The capacitive property and high voltage (HV) driving demand of DEAP actuator make a high voltage capacitive load driving system to be necessary. The only energy source battery determines it needs to be an autonomous system. The detailed system specifications have been introduced and the corresponding system level design has been proposed. In addition, the detailed design and implementation information has been provided as well, including the power and control stage inside the high voltage converter, the output voltage measurement circuit, the feedback control, etc. Finally, the experimental results have been provided to validate the capability and performance of the driving system.