Extending applications of dielectric elastomer artificial muscle

Chiba, Seiki; Waki, Mikio; Kornbluh, Roy; Pelrine, Ron

doi:10.1117/12.728671

Cited by 43 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…For instance, Hyperdrive Corporation fabricated a small scale power generator composed of 1 g of DEG membrane; however, as illustrated by Chiba et al the bulk of the external electronics was significantly larger than that of the DEG. 117 The cost of electronics to support small scale applications such as heel-strike shoe and parasitic remote sensor generators presents a further challenge. 96 This highlights a crucial point; for the fundamental mechanism of DEG power generation to be scale invariant, equally scalable external electronics are required.…”

Section: Energy Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Anderson

Gisby²,

McKay³

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

564

314

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Dielectric elastomer (DE) actuators are popularly referred to as artificial muscles because their impressive actuation strain and speed, low density, compliant nature, and silent operation capture many of the desirable physical properties of muscle. Unlike conventional robots and machines, whose mechanisms and drive systems rapidly become very complex as the number of degrees of freedom increases, groups of DE artificial muscles have the potential to generate rich motions combining many translational and rotational degrees of freedom. These artificial muscle systems can mimic the agonist-antagonist approach found in nature, so that active expansion of one artificial muscle is taken up by passive contraction in the other. They can also vary their stiffness. In addition, they have the ability to produce electricity from movement. But departing from the high stiffness paradigm of electromagnetic motors and gearboxes leads to new control challenges, and for soft machines to be truly dexterous like their biological analogues, they need precise control. Humans control their limbs using sensory feedback from strain sensitive cells embedded in muscle. In DE actuators, deformation is inextricably linked to changes in electrical parameters that include capacitance and resistance, so the state of strain can be inferred by sensing these changes, enabling the closed loop control that is critical for a soft machine. But the increased information processing required for a soft machine can impose a substantial burden on a central controller. The natural solution is to distribute control within the mechanism itself. The octopus arm is an example of a soft actuator with a virtually infinite number of degrees of freedom (DOF). The arm utilizes neural ganglia to process sensory data at the local “arm” level and perform complex tasks. Recent advances in soft electronics such as the piezoresistive dielectric elastomer switch (DES) have the potential to be fully integrated with actuators and sensors. With the DE switch, we can produce logic gates, oscillators, and a memory element, the building blocks for a soft computer, thus bringing us closer to emulating smart living structures like the octopus arm. The goal of future research is to develop fully soft machines that exploit smart actuation networks to gain capabilities formerly reserved to nature, and open new vistas in mechanical engineering.

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Section: Energy Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Anderson

Gisby²,

McKay³

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

564

314

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When a voltage difference is applied between the electrodes, they are attracted to each other by electrostatic forces, and it brings large thickness-wise contraction and plane-wise expansion with very high-speed response [1], [2]. In the previous works, pressure up to 8MPa, strain rate up to 380% and frequency of the motion more than 50kHz has been demonstrated [3].…”

Section: Dielectric Elastomermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Power generation ability is other important characteristic of dielectric elastomer [1], [2]. When the material is deformed, capacitance of material is changed.…”

Section: Power Generation Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation on Drive Ability of Dielectric Elastomer and the Application on Removal of Piled Snow on Solar Panels

Suwa

Chiba

2015

Trans. Mat. Res. Soc. Japan

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Dielectric elastomer is one of the new types electronic materials that have both drive ability and electric generating capacity. In this research, fundamental tests were performed to evaluate abilities of dielectric elastomer. As the result, it was found that dielectric elastomer had very efficient drive ability and electric generating capacity, and that it was applicable to both slow and high speed motions. This means many effective applications are expected using this material. As one of the applications, dielectric elastomer was applied to remove piled snow on solar panels. Dielectric elastomer can generate slight-vibration, and the vibration decreases the frictional resistance between the surface of solar panels and piled snow. As the result of the test, it was found that snow removal by slight-vibration was very effective and that energy spent to remove snow using vibration was about 1/20 of melting.

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“…The use of a DE actuator in the reverse mode, in which deformation of the elastomer by external mechanical work is used to generate electrical energy, is gaining attention [16][17][18][19]. Jean-Mistral et al [19] presented a DEG (dielectric elastomer generator) which generated a very small energy from human motion.…”

Section: Background On De Artificial Musclementioning

confidence: 99%

Simple and Robust Direct Drive Wave Power Generation System Using Dielectric Elastomers

Chiba¹,

Waki²,

Fujita³

et al. 2017

JMSE-B

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DEs (dielectric elastomers), a type of electroactive polymer, show considerable promise for harvesting energy from wind, ocean waves, water currents, or even from human motion. Their energy density and efficiency of conversion make for simple, low cost, and robust generators where an electroactive polymer transducer is directly driven by the up-and-down motions of waves. Over the past few years, we have conducted various tests to validate DE wave power generators. In our 2010 test, a DE generator generated electricity even with comparatively small wave heights. Generator performance over a longer period of time (50 minutes) was evaluated in our present test. In the 2010 test, the system was not able to automatically respond to changes in sea level because of its mooring. The present system used a sunken horizontal plate, which enabled it to create the needed reaction forces and respond to sea level changes. This method of mooring generated electric power even in deep water.

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Extending applications of dielectric elastomer artificial muscle

Cited by 43 publications

References 4 publications

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Evaluation on Drive Ability of Dielectric Elastomer and the Application on Removal of Piled Snow on Solar Panels

Simple and Robust Direct Drive Wave Power Generation System Using Dielectric Elastomers

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