Power Electronic Drivers for Electrostatic HASEL Actuators Used in Soft Mobile Robots

This paper proposes, analyzes, designs, and validates topologies of dual coupled inductor hybrid (DCIH) converters that are capable of supporting enormous conversion ratios up to
$\sim$
2700X and output voltage up to
$\sim$
4-9 kV from a very low voltage supplied by a 1-cell battery pack for the standalone electro-mechanical energy conversion devices called soft robots made out of HASEL (Hydraulically Amplified Self-healing Electrostatic) actuators. A unique hybrid combination of pulse current sources (PCSos) and a 12-diode, Negative output, X (X is L for Ladder, M for Mixed, or D for Dickson) type, Diode-Capacitor-based Voltage Multiplier Rectifier (12N(X)DCVMR) helps to achieve small overall size, efficient operation, output voltage regulation, and shaping with simple duty-cycle modulation, which makes them promising candidates for future untethered soft robots. One of the illustrated operating points by the proposed DCIH converter has an input voltage of 3.3 V, an output voltage of 9 kV, at 16.2 W output with an efficiency of 75 %, and a power density of 10 W/in
$^{3}$
.