A road to practical dielectric elastomer actuators based robotics and mechatronics: discrete actuation

Plante, Jean‐Sébastien; DeVita, Lauren M.; Dubowsky, Steven

doi:10.1117/12.715236

Cited by 47 publications

(49 citation statements)

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“…Upon actuation the DE layer will relax causing the actuator to uncurl until it reaches the equilibrium actuated state, which will vary with the applied field. Plante et al [246] proposed using bistable binary actuator systems. These actuators are capable of transitioning between two stable rest states and thus do need to be actuated continuously for extended periods of time, which can dramatically improve overall lifetime.…”

Section: De Actuator Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Outside of biomimetics, DEs may still be of use in other human-related applications including refreshable Braille devices, [259,[281][282][283] hand-rehabilitation splints, [284] MRIcompatible machines, [246,[285][286][287] microfluidic devices, [288][289] force-feedback, [249] and wearable tactile interfaces. [283,290] Other potential applications include actuators for lighterthan-air vehicles, [291,292] tunable phononic crystals, [293][294][295] and variable phase retarders.…”

Section: De Actuator Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advances in Dielectric Elastomers for Actuators and Artificial Muscles

Brochu¹,

Pei²

2009

Macromol. Rapid Commun.

1,257

1,130

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A number of materials have been explored for their use as artificial muscles. Among these, dielectric elastomers (DEs) appear to provide the best combination of properties for true muscle-like actuation. DEs behave as compliant capacitors, expanding in area and shrinking in thickness when a voltage is applied. Materials combining very high energy densities, strains, and efficiencies have been known for some time. To date, however, the widespread adoption of DEs has been hindered by premature breakdown and the requirement for high voltages and bulky support frames. Recent advances seem poised to remove these restrictions and allow for the production of highly reliable, high-performance transducers for artificial muscle applications.

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Section: De Actuator Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: De Actuator Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Dielectric Elastomers for Actuators and Artificial Muscles

Brochu¹,

Pei²

2009

Macromol. Rapid Commun.

1,257

1,130

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Acrylic elastomers have demonstrated actuated strains of over 200%, stresses of up to 7 MPa, and estimated energy densities of over 3 J/g, and such remarkable performance has attracted considerable attention [1][2][3][4]. To realize the electrostrictive strain of dielectric elastomer (DE) actuators, the sandwich structure of compliant electrode/DE /compliant electrode is applied [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on automatic spraying of single-walled carbon nanotubes and detection of spraying effects

Zhao

Niu

et al. 2014

International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials

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2014) Research on automatic spraying of single-walled carbon nanotubes and detection of spraying effects, Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been introduced as compliant electrodes for dielectric elastomers (DEs) due to fault tolerance. To acquire a better electrostrictive strain and longer lifetime, it is essential to obtain a certain and uniform width of the SWNT electrode. To ensure uniform width manually, a small flux and longer time are necessary. Moreover, it is difficult to control the width of the electrode for the randomness of manual spraying. Therefore, a new type of automatic spraying process is presented in this paper. The width and homogeneity of the electrode can be easily controlled by certain parameters of the process. Two methods for detecting the homogeneity of the electrode are introduced in this paper: Measurement of surface resistance and luminosity. The coefficient of variation (CV) values detected by the two methods are virtually equal and less than 8%, which shows the feasibility of the detection method and homogeneity of automatic spraying. The speed of automatic spraying is 102 mm 2 /s, which is higher than that of manual spraying. The spraying process and the method used to detect homogeneity in this paper provide a reference for the relevant processes.

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“…In AMI [12] , two cone components, one of which was used as the preload of the other, were integrated into a linear actuator. In MIT [13,14] , carbon fiber was used to provide preload for cone actuator in hopping robot. Actuator (outer diameter 100 mm) had maximum force output of 6 N and displacement output of 10 mm at voltage of 9.4 kV.…”

Section: Introduction *mentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Investigation of Cone Dielectric Elastomer Actuator Using Taguchi Method

HM(王化明)¹,

YL²,

DB³

et al. 2011

CJME

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Dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) show promise for mechatronic applications due to the advantages of dielectric elastomer, such as lightweight, flexible, low cost, high strain, etc, and many configurations of DEAs have been demonstrated. As a kind of linear actuator, cone DEAs are studied in some laboratory prototypes due to easy manufacturing, however, their performance have not been exploited fully. Based on the working principle of DEA, a four-bar linkage mechanism is designed to provide negative stiffness preload, which can increase displacement output of actuator (outer diameter 100 mm) to 17 mm. Three cone actuating units are assembled in parallel to enhance the maximum force output to 5.07 N. Loading experiments of actuator in forward and backward strokes are performed, the experimental results show that backward stroke has stronger actuating capability than forward stroke, accordingly application of actuator is recommended. Four factors rather than applied voltage, i.e., number of actuating units, pre-stretch ratio, inner diameter, and outer diameter, are determined as influencing factors for Taguchi method. Then the performance objectives of actuator, i.e., displacement output, maximum force output, and maximum work in backward stroke, are investigated based on L 9 (3 4 ) Taguchi orthogonal design. The mean signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio based on the larger-the-better criterion is calculated according to the acquired displacement and force output. Analytical results show that outer diameter has the most significant influence on displacement output, and maximum force out and work output are influenced most by number of actuating units. Inner diameter also has an important effect on the performance objectives of actuator, while pre-stretch ratio has the least influence. The proposed performance investigation is helpful for the design and application of cone actuator in mechatronic system.

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A road to practical dielectric elastomer actuators based robotics and mechatronics: discrete actuation

Cited by 47 publications

References 0 publications

Advances in Dielectric Elastomers for Actuators and Artificial Muscles

Advances in Dielectric Elastomers for Actuators and Artificial Muscles

Research on automatic spraying of single-walled carbon nanotubes and detection of spraying effects

Performance Investigation of Cone Dielectric Elastomer Actuator Using Taguchi Method

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