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Volume 14
Issue 12
10.3390/act14120601
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

HASEL Actuators Activated with a Multi-Channel Low-Cost High Voltage Power Supply

by
Levi Tynan
1,
Upul Gunawardana
1,
Daniele Esposito
2,
Jessica Centracchio
3,
Simone Minucci
4,
Andrea Gaetano Chiariello
5 and
Gaetano Gargiulo
1,*
1
School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, 56 Second Avenue, Kingswood, NSW 2757, Australia
2
Department of Information and Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
3
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, University of Naples Federico II, via Claudio, 21, 80125 Naples, Italy
4
Department of Engineering and Sciences, Faculty of Technological and Innovation Sciences, Universitas Mercatorum, Piazza Mattei 10, 00186 Rome, Italy
5
Department of Engineering, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Actuators 2025, 14(12), 601; https://doi.org/10.3390/act14120601
Submission received: 24 October 2025 / Revised: 2 December 2025 / Accepted: 3 December 2025 / Published: 8 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Actuators: Design, Control and Integration)
Versions Notes

Abstract

Hydraulically Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic (HASEL) actuators promise a future of adaptive robotics in a world where robotics is becoming increasingly integrated into our daily lives. Adaptive robotics needs to control multiple outputs with precision and speed. Unfortunately, expensive High Voltage control restricts the development of the HASEL actuator for commercial applications. This paper demonstrates a low-cost multi-channel High Voltage Power Supply (HVPS). The HVPS takes a 6 V input and controls multiple HASEL actuators from 0 to 10 kV, with a slew rate of up to 117.7 kV/s. In addition to controlling multiple channels, the low-cost HVPS can control two outputs with a single control module in an alternating pattern, similar to the way muscles control movement in alternating sequences—e.g., biceps and triceps. Previous work has shown that this low-cost HVPS is 95% cheaper than other power supplies used in the field of HASEL actuators. This work builds on the work reducing the cost of the HVPS by an additional 40%. This low-cost HVPS also reduces the amount of input required for control from four PWMs to one PWM with enable pins, drastically improving the performance of the device for multi-channel operation.
Keywords: HASEL actuator; High Voltage Power Supply; flyback converter; voltage multiplier HASEL actuator; High Voltage Power Supply; flyback converter; voltage multiplier

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tynan, L.; Gunawardana, U.; Esposito, D.; Centracchio, J.; Minucci, S.; Chiariello, A.G.; Gargiulo, G. HASEL Actuators Activated with a Multi-Channel Low-Cost High Voltage Power Supply. Actuators 2025, 14, 601. https://doi.org/10.3390/act14120601

AMA Style

Tynan L, Gunawardana U, Esposito D, Centracchio J, Minucci S, Chiariello AG, Gargiulo G. HASEL Actuators Activated with a Multi-Channel Low-Cost High Voltage Power Supply. Actuators. 2025; 14(12):601. https://doi.org/10.3390/act14120601

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tynan, Levi, Upul Gunawardana, Daniele Esposito, Jessica Centracchio, Simone Minucci, Andrea Gaetano Chiariello, and Gaetano Gargiulo. 2025. "HASEL Actuators Activated with a Multi-Channel Low-Cost High Voltage Power Supply" Actuators 14, no. 12: 601. https://doi.org/10.3390/act14120601

APA Style

Tynan, L., Gunawardana, U., Esposito, D., Centracchio, J., Minucci, S., Chiariello, A. G., & Gargiulo, G. (2025). HASEL Actuators Activated with a Multi-Channel Low-Cost High Voltage Power Supply. Actuators, 14(12), 601. https://doi.org/10.3390/act14120601

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