Energy conversion and high power pulse production using miniature piezoelectric compressors

The design, construction, and testing of miniature, high-power piezoelectric compression generators are presented and discussed. The piezoelectric compression generators are located inside high speed, 30-mm projectiles that are launched with a high pressure helium gun to velocities of approximately 300 m/s. The large deceleration force created when the projectile imparts the ground is used to power the piezoelectric compression generator. The peak output power is approximately 25 kW into a 10-Ω load with the output pulse length on the order of 1 μs. Good agreement is found between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions