No abstract

This paper describes the establishment of an enhanced mathematical model and an inversion-based controller based on the proposed model for a trilayer conjugated polymer actuator that will steer a cochlear implant through a 3-D structure. The multilayer electroactive polymer actuator that operates in air will suit many biomedical applications. We propose to use viscoelastic models for the conducting polymer and membrane layers of the actuator so that its mechanical properties can be incorporated into the actuator more accurately. The proposed model accurately predicts the frequency response of the electrical admittance and curvature of the conjugated polymer actuators, and its efficacy for different actuators has been experimentally evaluated. In addition, an inversion-based controller without an external sensor for position feedback data has successfully been evaluated to further validate the ability of the proposed model for sensorless position control of the actuators.Abstract-This paper describes the establishment of an enhanced mathematical model and an inversion-based controller based on the proposed model for a tri-layer conjugated polymer actuator that will steer a cochlear implant through a 3D structure. The multi-layer electroactive polymer actuator that operates in air will suit many biomedical applications. We propose to use viscoelastic models for the conducting polymer and membrane layers of the actuator so that its mechanical properties can be incorporated into the actuator more accurately. The proposed model accurately predicts the frequency response of the electrical admittance and curvature of the conjugated polymer actuators, and its efficacy for different actuators has been experimentally evaluated. In addition, an inversion-based controller without an external sensor for position feedback data has successfully been evaluated to further validate the ability of the proposed model for sensorless position control of the actuators. Index Terms-actuators, electroactive polymer actuators, inversion-based feedforward control

This paper proposes an adaptive sliding mode control methodology to enhance the positioning ability of conducting polymer actuators typified by tri-layer conjugated polymer actuators. This is motivated by the search for an effective control strategy to command such actuators to a desired configuration in the presence of parametric uncertainties and unmodeled disturbances. After analyzing the stability of the adaptive sliding mode control system, experiments were conducted to demonstrate its satisfactory tracking ability, based on a series of experimental results. Implementation of the control law requires a valid model of the conducting polymer actuator and boundaries of the uncertainties and disturbances. Based on the theoretical and experimental results presented, the adaptive sliding mode control methodology is very attractive in the field of smart actuators which contain significant uncertainties and disturbances.