Design and Implementation of Cone Dielectric Elastomer Actuator with Double-Slider Mechanism

Luan, Yunguang; Wang, Huaming; Zhu, Yongwei

doi:10.1016/s1672-6529(09)60237-7

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The results here can also be compared to experimental results produced by single DOF cone DEAs consisting of single elastomer membranes coupled to elastic pre-load mechanisms. Luan et al [24] report that a cone DEA that utilizes a sliding pre-load mechanism with b = 39 mm produces a z-axis stroke of 20 mm and an active thrust force of 0.4 N.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards holonomic electro-elastomer actuators with six degrees of freedom

Conn

Rossiter

2012

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Functionally efficient six degree of freedom (DOF) actuators have not yet been developed in a scale-invariant and inherently compliant unified form. This has primarily been due to the use of conventional serial or parallel kinematical configurations and electromagnetic motors, pneumatics and hydraulics. Contrary to traditional technologies, utilizing electro-active elastomers enables multi-DOF actuation and holonomic operation with minimal structural complexity. Conical dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are compact multi-DOF actuator–sensors that are scalable and can be entirely polymeric, making them suitable for a variety of applications including minimally invasive medical devices. In this paper, cone DEAs are developed towards integrated 6-DOF actuation with muscle-like performance from a single structure. This is achieved by demonstrating the feasibility of holonomic 6-DOF actuation and through experimental characterization of a 5-DOF prototype. The 5-DOF prototype (50 mm length, 60 mm diameter) produced rotational actuation outputs of ±21.7° and ±9.42 mN m and linear actuation outputs of ±4.45 mm (±9.1%) and ±0.55 N. Finally, combined multi-DOF actuation is demonstrated as part of development towards scalable holonomic electro-active elastomer actuators.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards holonomic electro-elastomer actuators with six degrees of freedom

Conn

Rossiter

2012

Smart Mater. Struct.

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“…Due to its ease of manufacturing (Luan et al, 2010), a circular ECU with an inner diameter of 35 mm and a outer diameter of 80 mm is used to perform energy conversion experiments as shown in Figure 2. The acrylic dielectric EAP is VHB4910 (1 mm) from 3M.…”

Section: Circular Ecu and Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental investigation on energy conversion for dielectric electroactive polymer generator

Wang

Zhu

Wang

et al. 2012

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

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Dielectric electroactive polymer shows considerable promise for harvesting energy from environmental sources such as wind, water current, and ocean waves. Based on the analysis of an energy conversion cycle, circular energy conversion unit is implemented to conduct experiment. Two main factors, namely, bias voltage and stretch displacement, are subsequently determined to investigate their effect on the generated energy and efficiency. Analytical results indicate that the generated energy and efficiency increase as the bias voltage and displacement increase in a certain range of bias voltage, while over high electrical field reduces electrical energy and efficiency due to charge leakage. Furthermore, the effect of stretch speed on transformed voltage is analyzed. Antagonistic connection of two same energy conversion units is investigated, which can boost the total efficiency to 20% because the retracting force of one energy conversion unit is used to stretch the other. To make full use of the input mechanical energy, a generator with multiple energy conversion units, which are deformed by slider–crank mechanisms, is analyzed. The torque needed to actuate generator with more than two energy conversion units is positive in the whole cycle, which means all the mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy. Moreover, fluctuation of torque becomes smaller as the number of energy conversion units increases.

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“…DEs have gained a deserved reputation as "artificial muscles" [2][3][4] because they behave similarly to biological muscles in terms of actuation pressure, energy conversion efficiency and response speed to stimulus. Hence DEs are used for intelligent applications such as tactile displays [5][6][7], bionic actuators [8][9][10][11][12] and other applications [13][14][15][16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation into the electromechanical properties of dielectric elastomers subjected to pre-stressing

Jiang¹,

Betts²,

Kennedy³

et al. 2015

Materials Science and Engineering: C

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oDielectric elastomers (DEs) are being exploited for biological applications such as artificial blood pumps, biomimetic grippers and biomimetic robots. Generally, polyacrylate and silicone rubber (SR) are the most widely used materials for fabricating DEs in terms of mixing with other polymers or compounding them with highly dielectric particles. Furthermore, pre-stretch offers an effective approach to increasing actuated strain and dielectric strength and eliminating 'pull-in' instability. In the work described here, a comparison in electromechanical properties was made between SR/10% barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) and commercial VHB 4910. Trends in these dielectric parameters are shown graphically for variation in pre-stretch ratio (λ pre ). It was found that permittivity of SR/10% BaTiO 3 was independent of frequency, whereas permittivity was frequency-independent due to the polarization of polymer chains. The maximum deformation and the coupling efficiency for SR/10% BaTiO 3 can be achieved at a pre-stretch ratio between 1.6 and 1.9. For VHB 4910, they can be obtained in the prestretch ratio range from 2.6 to 3.0. A maximum energy density of 0.05 MJ/m 3 was achieved by SR/10% BaTiO 3 (λ pre = 1.6) and VHB 4910 (λ pre = 3.4). The findings provide an insight into critical pre-stretch ratios required for a range of applications of DEs based on silicone and the commercially available polyacrylate VHB 4910.

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Design and Implementation of Cone Dielectric Elastomer Actuator with Double-Slider Mechanism

Cited by 16 publications

References 12 publications

Towards holonomic electro-elastomer actuators with six degrees of freedom

Towards holonomic electro-elastomer actuators with six degrees of freedom

Experimental investigation on energy conversion for dielectric electroactive polymer generator

Investigation into the electromechanical properties of dielectric elastomers subjected to pre-stressing

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