MEMS Piezoelectric Actuator Drive Circuit

Alfred E. Mann Foundation Engineering, 2013-14

Liaison(s): Sam Bowman, Brian Dearden, Tom Lobl, Christian Merot
Advisor(s): Qimin Yang
Students(s): Emily Cheng (TL-S), Kerry Chin (TL-F), Robert McElwaine, Brianna Thielen, Cody Crosby (S)

AMF aims to produce a skull-mounted drug pump for drug delivery to targeted brain tissue. To manufacture a pump of the appropriate size, the new product will implement a MEMS piezoelectric actuator. The HMC project goals are to develop and characterize a drive circuit that generates a precise waveform to power the MEMS actuator. This circuit must also be energy efficient in order to maximize the battery life of the drug pump and must be compact to minimize pump overall size.