Experimental Non Resonant Piezoelectric Transformer for High Voltage Measurement

Piezoelectric Transformer (PTs) is solid-state devices that transform electrical energy into electrical energy by means of a mechanical vibration. These devices are manufactured using piezoelectric materials that are driven at resonance. With appropriate design and circuitry, it is possible to step up and step down the voltages between the input and output sections of the piezoelectric transformer, without making use of magnetic materials and obtaining excellent conversion efficiencies. The initial concept and of piezoelectric transformers through history has been linked to the relevant work of some excellent researchers as well as to the evolution in materials, manufacturing processes, and driving circuit techniques. First, the origins of nonlinearities and theoretical approaches are preliminarily discussed. Then, the hardware model is developed for a typical Rosen-type transformer and experimental investigations are presented. The results are used to confirm the validity and the methodology to express the terms added to the typical constitutive piezoelectric relations.