A low-power and high-gain converter for driving dielectric elastomer actuators

Dielectric elastomers are being used as actuators to convert electrical energy to mechanical deformation in a wide variety of potential microrobotic applications. Majority of these actuators are being excited using external bulky power supplies, which limit the functionality of the actuator. One of the major challenges towards enabling operation of these applications without an external power source is development of lightweight and high power density power electronic interfaces (PEI) with very high step-up gains. This manuscript proposes a special circuit topology to drive dielectric elastomers. The experimental validation has been carried out to verify ability of the circuit to drive a 600V dielectric elastomer at 4Hz for microrobotic applications.