Experimental Evaluation on the Effect of Electrode Configuration in Electrostatic Actuators for Increasing Vibrotactile Feedback Intensity

Abstract

Vibrotactile feedback is a key feature of many modern touch displays, which greatly enhances user experiences when interacting with an onscreen interface. Despite its popularity in small touch screen devices, this haptic feature is absent in most large displays due to a lack of suitable actuators for such applications. Thus, a growing need exists for haptic actuators capable of producing sufficient vibrations in large touch displays. This study proposes and evaluates a novel electrostatic resonant actuator (ERA) with a moving mass and dual electrodes for increased vibration feedback intensity. The dual-electrode ERA was fabricated along with a comparable single-electrode ERA to investigate the effect of the electrode configuration on the maximum vibration intensity. When measured directly on the mass, the maximum vibration intensity of the dual-electrode actuator increased by 73% compared to the single-electrode actuator. When mounted and measured on a mock panel, the maximum vibration intensity of the dual-electrode actuator increased by nearly 65% compared to a similarly mounted single-electrode actuator. These results show that the dual-electrode configuration can significantly increase the vibration intensity when compared to the conventional ERA. This demonstrates a promising potential for the use of the proposed actuator for generating vibrotactile feedback in large touch displays.

Modeling and Experimental Evaluation of Haptic Localization Using Electrostatic Vibration Actuators

“…Here, k is the peak acceleration measured at point k and ˜ k is the simulated peak acceleration at point k. To solve the optimization problem in equation (12), we used MATLAB's constrained optimization solver fmincon. This solver is gradient-based and uses the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method.…”

“…One of the major reasons for the absence of haptic feedback in large TSDs is the availability of a very small number of actuators capable of rendering tactile feedback for large TSDs [12]. Among different actuation strategies for haptic rendering in TSDs, vibrotactile actuation has become the preferred choice because of its affordability, simplified design, and low power consumption [13].…”

“…They are limited in vibration intensity due to the snap-in phenomenon, which limits the displacement range [16]. Modified dual electrode electrostatic actuators termed electrostatic resonant actuators (ERAs) are found to have sufficient vibration intensity for large TSDs [12], [17].…”

An improved dynamic Prandtl–Ishlinskii hysteresis model and a PID-type adaptive sliding mode controller for piezoelectric micro-motion platform

“…Traditional motor-driven actuators, with their complex structures, multiple transmission links, and issues like friction and deformation, cannot meet the high precision requirements for micro-nano driving. Consequently, a variety of smart material actuators have emerged, such as electromagnetic actuators [8], electrostatic actuators [9], electrothermal actuators [10], shape memory alloy actuators [11], and piezoelectric actuators [12]. Among these, piezoelectric actuators based on the inverse piezoelectric effect are favored by scholars due to their fast frequency response, high stiffness, small size, and low heat generation [13,14].…”

A Feasibility Study of a Vibrotactile System Based on Electrostatic Actuators for Touch Bar Interfaces: Experimental Evaluations

“…In a study by Mason et al, a new haptic actuator based on electrostatic actuators, called the electrostatic resonant actuator (ERA), was developed for use in large touch displays [21]. Unlike typical electrostatic actuators, this actuator utilizes a moving mass and two electrodes to increase vibration intensity.…”