Design and Fabrication of Ultralight High-Voltage Power Circuits for Flapping-Wing Robotic Insects

Abstract

Flapping-wing robotic insects are small, highly maneuverable flying robots inspired by biological<br />insects and useful for a wide range of tasks, including exploration, environmental monitoring, search<br />and rescue, and surveillance. Recently, robotic insects driven by piezoelectric actuators have achieved<br />the important goal of taking off with external power; however, fully autonomous operation requires<br />an ultralight power supply capable of generating high-voltage drive signals from low-voltage energy<br />sources. This paper describes high-voltage switching circuit topologies and control methods suitable<br />for driving piezoelectric actuators in flapping-wing robotic insects and discusses the physical<br />implementation of these topologies, including the fabrication of custom magnetic components by<br />laser micromachining and other weight minimization echniques. The performance of laser<br />micromachined magnetics and custom-wound commercial magnetics is compared through the<br />experimental realization of a tapped inductor boost converter capable of stepping up a 3.7V Li-poly<br />cell input to 200V. The potential of laser micromachined magnetics is further shown by<br />implementing a similar converter weighing 20mg (not including control functionality) and capable of<br />up to 70mW output at 200V and up to 100mW at 100V.