DEAP actuator and its high voltage driver for heating valve application

Abstract

Due to the advantages of DEAP (Dielectric Electro Active Polymer) material, such as light weight, noise free operation, high energy and power density and fast response speed, it can be applied in a variety of applications to replace the conventional transducers or actuators. This paper introduces DEAP actuator to the heating valve system and conducts a case study to discuss the feasible solution in designing DEAP actuator and its driver for heating valve application. First of all, the heating valves under study are briefly introduced. Then the design and the development for DEAP actuator is illustrated in detail, and followed by the detailed investigation of the HV driver for DEAP actuator. In order to verify the implementation, the experimental measurements are carried out for DEAP actuator, its HV driver as well as the entire heating valve system.

Control of a high‐voltage bidirectional dc–dc flyback converter for driving DEAs

“…A number of applications such as pulsed lasers, pulsed sonar equipment, photo flash systems, electric fences, and plasma research require controllable high voltages. Smart material actuators such as dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) require high‐voltage capacitive charging [4, 5] with applications in pneumatic, hydraulic, and electromagnetic systems [6, 7]. Recently, there has been great interest in utilising DEAs due to their simplicity, low cost, and applicability [8–11].…”