An electro-mechanically coupled model for the dynamic behavior of a dielectric electro-active polymer actuator

Hodgins, Micah; Rizzello, Gianluca; Naso, David; York, Alexander; Seelecke, Stefan

doi:10.1088/0964-1726/23/10/104006

Cited by 48 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Approximated mathematical models have been developed to characterize the performance of conical DEAs with biasing springs and biasing mass [22][23][24]. Two important simplifying assumptions are made in their models, which include a truncated cone-shape approximation and homogeneous stress distribution on the deformed DEA membrane.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Optimization of a Conical Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

Cao

Conn

2018

Actuators

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Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are known as 'artificial muscles' due to their large actuation strain, high energy density and self-sensing capability. The conical configuration has been widely adopted in DEA applications such as bio-inspired locomotion and micropumps for its good compactness, ease for fabrication and large actuation stroke. However, the conical protrusion of the DEA membrane is characterized by inhomogeneous stresses, which complicate their design. In this work, we present an analytical model-based optimization for conical DEAs with the three biasing elements: (I) linear compression spring; (II) biasing mass; and (III) antagonistic double-cone DEA. The optimization is to find the maximum stroke and work output of a conical DEA by tuning its geometry (inner disk to outer frame radius ratio a/b) and pre-stretch ratio. The results show that (a) for all three cases, stroke and work output are maximum for a pre-stretch ratio of 1 × 1 for the Parker silicone elastomer, which suggests the stretch caused by out-of-plane deformation is sufficient for this specific elastomer. (b) Stroke maximization is obtained for a lower a/b ratio while a larger a/b ratio is required to maximize work output, but the optimal a/b ratio is less than 0.3 in all three cases. (c) The double-cone configuration has the largest stroke while single cone with a biasing mass has the highest work output.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Optimization of a Conical Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

Cao

Conn

2018

Actuators

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“…When a voltage is applied to the electrodes, it generates a pressure (known as Maxwell Stress) that compresses the material in the thickness direction, producing a radial expansion and the subsequent actuation motion shown in Fig.3. A detailed dynamical model of the system can be obtained by extending the work developed for simpler configurations [8], [11], with new elements that take into account the effects of the NBS and also the consequent need of improving the viscoelastic model of the membrane relaxation due to the larger deformations. The overall model of the DEAP actuator can be described as in eq.…”

Section: Lmi-based Design Of Pi Controllers For Micropositioning Dielmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dependency on system biasing, namely mass m, linear spring stiffness k l , pre-compression d l , non-linear spring force F NBS (x 2 ) and gravity acceleration g has been made explicit in (1), while the remaining model coefficients are influenced by other physical parameters characterizing the system (details on their interpretation can be found in [11]). The NBS force F NBS and the term s(x 2 ) appearing in (1) are nonlinear functions of the displacement defined as follows…”

Section: Lmi-based Design Of Pi Controllers For Micropositioning Dielmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…where A i and B i , i = 1, 2, are the system matrices in (11) corresponding to the minimum and maximum values of a(y) and b(y), respectively. The set of admissible A(y) and B(y) belongs to the convex hull generated by the vertices matrices A i and B i , and then stability results of the system can be proved only at the edges of the polytopic system.…”

Section: B Controller Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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LMI-based design of PI controllers for micropositioning dielectric electro-active polymer membranes

Rizzello

Naso

Turchiano

et al. 2015

2015 American Control Conference (ACC)

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This paper develops a control system for a bistable positioning system based on a dielectric electro-active polymer membrane. The motion is generated by the deformation of the membrane caused by the electrostatic compressive force between two compliant electrodes applied on the surface of the polymer. A bi-stable spring is used to pre-load the membrane, allowing high stroke but producing at the same time a strong non-linear behavior. The paper proposes a detailed electro-mechanical model of the system, which is subsequently used to develop a model-based PI control law providing precise tracking and worst-case performance guarantees. The design strategy is validated both in simulations and experiments.

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“…DEAs are driven by large electric fields that generate a Maxwell pressure which induces large biaxial planar expansion and transverse compression. Out-of-plane biasing mechanisms can help to maximize the linear actuation stroke output from this biaxial expansion, and these include the use of a rod [2,3], spring [4,5], deadweight [6,7] or magnetic force [8,9] to deform the DEA membrane into a protruding conical shape. Out-of-plane biasing can also be achieved using an antagonistic DEA configuration, as demonstrated by Artificial Muscle Incorporated's Universal Muscle Actuator [10], which connected two offset membranes via a co-axial central disk to form a recessed conical shape.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contactless coupling of dielectric elastomer membranes with magnetic repulsion

Cao

Gao²,

Conn³

2019

Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXI

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Dielectric elastomer (DE) actuators such as conventional double cone configurations have demonstrated that coupled DE membranes can be rigidly-coupled to execute antagonistic out-of-plane actuation. This paper presents experimental analysis of the compliant coupling in the emerging magnetically-coupled DE actuator (MCDEA) design, which exploits contactless magnetic repulsion to create a frictionless coupling between DE membranes. The compliance of this coupling enables the advantage of having two different actuation modes: antagonistic reciprocation and bi-directional expansion. However, since this compliance adds an additional degree-of-freedom, it increases the complexity of the actuator's dynamics because the coupling distance can exhibit oscillatory behavior that is distinct from each of the actuator's output oscillations in terms of phase difference and frequency. In this work, the relationship between DEA membrane stiffness and required magnetic force is experimentally analyzed before we present an investigation into the phase space of the compliant coupling and its relationship with the stroke amplitude. It is shown that the fundamental frequency of the MCDEA's output stroke (46.1 Hz) corresponds to a super-harmonic frequency of the magnetic coupling that is double that of the output. The fundamental frequency of the coupling (87.6 Hz) is found to correspond to a second resonant peak in the MCDEA's output with a much lower amplitude than at 46.1 Hz. This suggests that the dynamics can be exploited by controlling the excitation frequency for unidirectional push/pull or bidirectional expansion/contraction actuation, which creates potential for new compliant DE actuator and generator designs.

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An electro-mechanically coupled model for the dynamic behavior of a dielectric electro-active polymer actuator

Cited by 48 publications

References 46 publications

Performance Optimization of a Conical Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

Performance Optimization of a Conical Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

LMI-based design of PI controllers for micropositioning dielectric electro-active polymer membranes

Contactless coupling of dielectric elastomer membranes with magnetic repulsion

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