Investigation of Power Supplies for a Piezoelectric Brake Actuator in Aircrafts

In order to facilitate the use of a piezoelectric brake actuator for direct drive applications in airplanes, a power supply system in the power range of several kW is developed, characterised by a high power density, high dynamic and low weight. It feeds the mechanical vibration and reactive power to a multi-mass ultrasonic motor. This contribution puts focus on the power supply and control architecture of the underlying PIBRAC project, whose objective is to study, design and test a novel type of piezoelectric brake actuator and its control electronics. The yield should be pronounced cuts in total weight and peak power demand, when compared to electromagnetic brake actuators