Development of a 3-D Finite-element Solver for Piezoelectric Transformer Analysis

In this work, we develop a 3-D finite-element-method (FEM) solver, NTUPZE, for piezoelectric transformer (PT) analyses. The solver employs the 8-node brick element, and applies the harmonic analysis to study the voltage gains and the phase difference at different frequencies for PTs. Using the NTUPZE, we analyze two different types of piezoelectric transformers: the modal-type and the unipoled-disk-type. In the simulation of modal-type piezoelectric transformers, the voltage gain increases as the impedance increases when the phase increases with frequencies for each loading condition. In the simulation of the unipoled-disk-type, similar phenomenon is also observed. In addition, higher input/output area ratio will lead higher voltage gain and higher resonance frequency.