Acoustic transducer based on dielectric elastomers

Gräf, Christian; Maas, Jügen

doi:10.1117/12.913270

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Motor and diaphragm are merged into one component, allowing for very compact designs. In particular, the buckling dielectric elastomer transducer (BDET) [16] seems to be a promising loudspeaker concept as it does not need mechanical bias by magnets, springs [17], air-pressure [18][19][20], or other means [21], resulting in an extremely lightweight and thin setup compared to other concepts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave field synthesis using buckling dielectric elastomer transducers

Gareis,

Maas

2023

Smart Mater. Struct.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This work presents a wave field synthesis (WFS) system using a novel loudspeaker concept based on dielectric elastomers (DE). In WFS, large numbers of densely packed, individual audio channels are controlled to recreate arbitrary acoustic scenarios in the listener space, (i.e., listener zones in a room where different audio content can be radiated in different directions from the array, as seen in the supplemental material). Spatial resolution of the system increases with the increasing number of audio channels and with decreasing loudspeaker spacing. This motivates the use of buckling dielectric elastomer transducers (BDET) as loudspeakers, which feature a simple setup, rendering them extremely thin and lightweight, and which promises ease of manufacture through the low demand on resources. In this work, a WFS system featuring 480 BDET has been developed. The prototype includes software, electronics, and the loudspeaker array. The electronical and mechanical design of the system is presented in detail. A nonlinear model based on the third-order shear deformation theory is applied to the BDET; the BDET is then experimentally assessed and compared to the model. Further, the final loudspeaker array is characterized by a directivity measurement in an anechoic room to validate the reproducibility and quality of the setup. The presented technology highlights the structural advantages of smart materials over conventional transducers, which often are too large, heavy, and expensive for such array applications.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave field synthesis using buckling dielectric elastomer transducers

Gareis,

Maas

2023

Smart Mater. Struct.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…5 Last year the group at Ostwestfalen-Lippe University presented new measurements on a pressure biased loudspeaker setup. 6 They also considered another acoustic transducer design where a dielectric elastomer material was used to achieve a mechanical bias.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling of dielectric elastomer loudspeakers including dissipative effects

Lassen

2013

SPIE Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This contribution presents a theoretically investigation of dielectric elastomer loudspeakers similar in design to the loudspeakers studied at SRI International more than 10 years ago. The main emphasis of the contribution is on the effect of dissipative effects, specifically radiative losses (acoustic losses). The starting point of the theoretical model is a free-energy description and include hyper-elastic contributions. In the designs considered in this work the dielectric elastomer material is subject to a pre-strain which has been applied either by subjecting the membrane to an applied back pressure, or simply applying a biaxial mechanical pre-strain. The membrane is then actuated relative to this pre-strain by the application of an applied ac voltage. The nonlinear equations are linearized around the given pre-strain in order to perform relatively fast calculations of the mechanical frequency response of the structure.

show abstract

“…Pelrine et al (2000). VHB is used for electromechanical transducers in a variety of applications such as loudspeakers, see Graf and Maas (2012) and Hosoya et al (2015), tunable lenses, see Carpi et al (2011a), Blum et al (2012) and Shian et al 2013, and energy harvesting devices, see Kornbluh et al (2011) and Chiba et al (2013) amongst others. Due to its popularity as an actuator material a considerable amount of experimental investigations have been performed on VHB 4910.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electro-viscoelastic response of an acrylic elastomer analysed by digital image correlation

Thylander¹,

Menzel²,

Ristinmaa³

et al. 2017

Smart Mater. Struct.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experimental investigations are presented with respect to the electromechanically coupled and time-dependent behaviour of an acrylic elastomer, VHB 4910. For the electromechanically coupled experiments different biaxial pre-stretches have been considered and full-field measurements were made using three-dimensional surface digital image correlation. Both equi-biaxial and non equi-biaxial pre-stretches as well as both circular and non-circular electrodes are investigated. The experimental data provide new insights into the complex material behaviour of VHB 4910 and will enable enhanced calibration and development of constitutive models. Special emphasis lies on the quantification of out-of-plane deformation, i.e. the thickness change, of biaxially pre-stretched specimens based on an assumption of material incompressibility. The level of pre-stretch and thickness of the membrane plays a critical role in view of electromechanical instabilities. For completeness, cyclic uniaxial tests of the purely mechanical response are also presented and compared to similar experiments found in the literature.

show abstract

Acoustic transducer based on dielectric elastomers

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Wave field synthesis using buckling dielectric elastomer transducers

Wave field synthesis using buckling dielectric elastomer transducers

Modelling of dielectric elastomer loudspeakers including dissipative effects

Electro-viscoelastic response of an acrylic elastomer analysed by digital image correlation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About