Comparison between Piezoelectric Filter and Passive LC Filter in a Class L− Piezo Inverter

Overview & Synopsis

This paper presents a comparison between piezoelectric filtering and passive LC filtering integrated into an HF class L−Piezo inverter. This L−Piezo inverter is a variant of class φ2 where the filtering of the second harmonic is carried out by a piezoelectric resonator. Piezoelectric filters are well known in the signal domain (RF filtering), but their use in the field of power electronics, as a temporary energy storage element, is rather recent. In power electronics, piezoelectricity has mainly been used as a transformer, in particular, to greatly increase voltages (backlight applications). A class L−Piezo inverter with Lithium Niobate (LNO) piezoelectric resonator is designed for a switching frequency of 10.4 MHz, an input voltage of 30 V, and an output power of 15 W. To compare these two filtering methods, two prototypes are built, one with piezoelectric filtering and one with passive LC filtering. Measurements show a reduction of 60% of the losses in the filter, while the volume of the filter is reduced by a factor of 50.