Mixed analytical and numerical design method for piezoelectric transformers

Analytical models are widely used for piezoelectric transformers (PTs) design. In this paper, the additional usefulness of finite element analysis (FEA) for PT design will be shown. With FEA it is possible to optimize the PT design not only by maximizing the energy transference, but cleaning the working frequency range of spurious modes (geometrical 2D/3D effects). Besides, FEA tools allow studying other interesting aspects of the PT design such as the manufacturing tolerances or the influence of the fixing layer on the PT performance (which is a critical design point). A mixed analytical and numerical design method for PT is proposed.