Guest plukens Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 I am driving a piezo disk at 100 Hz (or less) with square wave and am limited by the output of my signal generator to 10 V. I wish to amplify that to 50 or even 100 V. How to do that cheaply?Will an audio amplifier work? They are designed to drive low impedence loads (8 ohm for instance). How will that work with a high impedence load (my piezo disk)?My budget is $50, ok $100 max.Thanks!Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Weddle Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 A voltage multiplier might be a consideration. A very simple peak detector in series with a resistor and capacitor load on the piezo could supply adequate squarewave voltage. The parallel RC will be designed for the frequency of 100Hz or lower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero999 Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Kevin,A voltage multiplier converts AC to DC so isn't an option and the rest of your post doesn't make any sense.plukins,An audio amplifier may oscillate, as it won't be designed to drive a capacitive load.Are you looking to build this yourself or buy off the shelf? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Weddle Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 A voltage multiplier developes a DC voltage from the positive or negative cycle. The input is capacitvely coupled and the sinewave has this DC offset. A squarewave cannot be coupled with a capacitor, so the output is this DC offset when not in transition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero999 Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 A voltage multiplier developes a DC voltage from the positive or negative cycle. The input is capacitvely coupled and the sinewave has this DC offset. A squarewave cannot be coupled with a capacitor, so the output is this DC offset when not in transition.The piezo needs to be driven by a 100Hz square wave.How can a voltage multiplier circuit (which will convert this to DC) possibly work?If the signal generator had enough current capability (it doesn't) a simple step-up transformer would work but that's not an option here. An amplifier is required, which means a separate 100V supply voltage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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