Switched capacitor charge pump reduces hysteresis of piezoelectric actuators over a large frequency range.

Piezoelectric actuators exhibit large hysteresis between the applied voltage and their displacement. A switched capacitor charge pump is proposed to reduce hysteresis and linearize the movement of piezoelectric actuators. By pumping the same amount of charges into the piezoelectric actuator quantitatively, the actuator will be forced to change its length with constant step. Compared with traditional voltage and charge driving, experimental results demonstrated that the piezoelectric stack driven by the charge pump had less hysteresis over a large frequency range, especially at ultralow frequencies. A hysteresis of less than 2.01% was achieved over a frequency range of 0.01-20 Hz using the charge pump driver.