Bistable dielectric elastomer minimum energy structures

Zhao, Jianwen; Wang, Shu; McCoul, David; Xing, Zhiguang; Huang, Bo; Liu, Liwu; Leng, Jinsong

doi:10.1088/0964-1726/25/7/075016

Cited by 43 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In the field of DE, one of the main goals is to develop highperformance DEAs. Based on the working principle, various configurations of DEAs are designed for extensive applications, such as planar, [58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66] multilayer stacked, [26,27,[67][68][69][70][71] folded, [72,73] rolled, [24,[74][75][76][77][78] diamond, [79][80][81] bending, [82][83][84][85][86] zipping, [87] balloon, [22,23,[88][89][90][91][92][93] cone-shaped, [94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101] hinge, [102...…”

Section: Configurations Of Typical Deasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Planar actuator Linear strain 503% [58] Linear strain 360% [59] Linear strain 230% [60] Linear strain 142% [152] Linear strain 90.6% [63] Linear strain 50% [196] Linear strain %50% [65] Linear strain 38% [184] Linear strain 12% [61] Areal strain 488% [66] Areal strain 230% [197] Multilayer stacked/folded actuator Linear strain 46% Lift a weight of over 2 kg Energy density 12.9 J kg À1 ; %500 cycles [27,67] Linear strain 24% Linear pull force %70 N Energy density 19.8 J kg À1 ; %300 000 cycles [26] Linear strain %15.5% [72] Linear strain %10% Raise a load of 900 g [68] Linear strain %4.6% Nature frequency %31 Hz [69] Linear strain 3.5% Tensile force 10 N [71] Rolled actuator Linear strain %200% [77] Linear strain %70% [78] Linear strain 35.8% [75] Linear strain 25% Blocked force 0.44 N Power density 1.2 kW kg À1 [139] Linear strain 15% [157] Linear strain 15% Energy density: 1.13 J kg À1 ; bandwidth >400 Hz; %600 000 cycles [24] Linear strain 9.75% Blocked force 1 N Energy density 0.275 J kg À1 ; %50 000 cycles [111] Bending angle 90 Lateral force 0.7 N; blocked axial force 15 N [76] Minimum energy structures Angle change 0 -90 [82] Angle change %À70 -80 [84] Displacement change À40-35 mm Per action 0.1386 J [119] Angle change 82.4 Blocked force 143 mN [86] Angle change 0 -52.8 [198] Balloon actuator Areal strain 2200% Electromechanical energy conversion density 1.13 J g À1 [22] Areal strain 1692% [23] Areal strain 1165% [199] Areal strain 400% Force 0.15 N [200] The apical displacement 6.…”

Section: Types Of Deas Actuation Index Referencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the field of DE, one of the main goals is to develop high‐performance DEAs. Based on the working principle, various configurations of DEAs are designed for extensive applications, such as planar, [ 58–66 ] multilayer stacked, [ 26,27,67–71 ] folded, [ 72,73 ] rolled, [ 24,74–78 ] diamond, [ 79–81 ] bending, [ 82–86 ] zipping, [ 87 ] balloon, [ 22,23,88–93 ] cone‐shaped, [ 94–101 ] hinge, [ 102–105 ] rotary, [ 106–110 ] and so on, as shown in Figure . The actuation performance of some existing DEAs is shown in Table 2 .…”

Section: Dielectric Elastomer Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators and Their Applications in Soft Robots

Guo

Liu

et al. 2021

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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149

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Robots play an increasingly important role in industrial production and daily life. Traditional robots are mostly made of hard materials, such as metal and plastic. Although rigidity of the material enables the traditional robot to perform tasks that are difficult for humans, for instance, carrying heavy objects, it also limits its adaptability. In nature, animals and plants are mostly made of soft materials, which make them have very high compliance and realize a variety of unimaginable actions. Similar to natural creatures, soft robots are usually composed of soft stimuli-responsive materials, which make them have good adaptability and compliance, and can achieve large deformation.Triggered by external stimuli, such as electric fields, magnetic fields, heat, and light, these soft stimuli-responsive materials can deform in a specific direction. The soft stimuli-responsive materials commonly used in soft robots include electroactive polymers (EAP), [1][2][3] hydrogels, [4][5][6][7] magnetic materials, [8][9][10] shape memory polymers (SMP), [11][12][13] shape memory alloys (SMA), [14,15] liquid crystal elastomers (LCE), [16][17][18] and so on. In addition, other actuation methods, such as pneumatic inflation and [19] electrostatic, [20,21] are also widely used in soft robots. To have an overview of different actuation methods, their performances with the maximum values are shown in Table 1. Although these maximum values were obtained from different actuators for each actuation method, they still demonstrate the potential upper limit.Dielectric elastomer (DE) is a typical EAP, which can generate significant deformation under the action of an external electric field. Thanks to its characteristics, such as large deformation, [22,23] fast response, [24,25] low elastic modulus, [2] high energy density, [26,27] light weight, [28,29] and low cost, [28] DE has the reputation of artificial muscles and has become one of the most promising materials in soft robots. [30][31][32][33][34] In this Review, we concentrate on the recent progresses of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) and their application in soft robots. In Section 2, we first introduce the working principle of DEAs, followed by the DE materials and compliant electrodes. Then, various DEAs with different designs are introduced. In Section 3, the application of DEAs in soft robots is divided into seven categories. Some recent highlights are described and discussed in detail, especially those with biological inspiration. We summarize some of the challenges in Section 4 and this is followed with the conclusion in Section 5. Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Working PrincipleGenerally, the structure of a DEA is similar to a sandwich, consisting of a DE membrane, where both surfaces are coated with compliant electrodes, as shown in Figure 1a. Once the compliant electrodes are subjected to voltage, an electric field will be generated in the membrane. The induced Maxwell stress causes the membrane to expand its area and contract its thickness. Based on the mechanism of ...

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Section: Configurations Of Typical Deasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Types Of Deas Actuation Index Referencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dielectric Elastomer Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Review of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators and Their Applications in Soft Robots

Guo

Liu

et al. 2021

Advanced Intelligent Systems

Self Cite

149

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“…This bifurcation of the equilibrium state is referred to as the bi-stability of DEMES Follador et al (2015); Zhao et al (2016a).…”

Section: Attainment Of the Initial Equilibrium Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Energy-Based Nonlinear Dynamic Model of Dielectric Elastomer Minimum Energy Structures with Stiffeners: Equilibrium Configuration and the Electromechanical Response

Khurana

Patra

Joglekar

2021

Preprint

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The Dielectric Elastomer-based Minimum Energy Structures (DEMES) pertain to an equilibrium configuration attained by the assembly of a pre-stretched electroactive polymer film and a compliant boundary frame. Because of their unique characteristics, such as fast response and a large reversible stroke; DEMES have been used widely in the development of soft robotic transducers. However, their utility is typically restricted because of the warping resulting from anticlastic curvature. The present investigation examines the effectiveness of stiffeners in controlling this warping, as well as their effect on the resulting electromechanical response when the DEMES is driven electrically. To this end, we devise an energy-based analytical model that predicts the initial equilibrium configuration of an elementary rectangular DEMES with a finite number of stiffeners adhered to the boundary frame. The proposed framework uses the neo-Hookean hyperelasticity model for the polymer film and the linear elastic constitutive model for both the frame and the stiffeners. Predictive capability of the proposed analytical model is established through comparisons with 3D finite element simulations and experimental observations. The analytical model is then extended in the setting of the least-action principle to investigate the complex nonlinear dynamic behavior of the DEMES emanating from the interplay between material and geometric nonlinearities. The proposed dynamic model provides crucial insights into the role of varying levels of geometric and material parameters on the attainment of the initial equilibrium configuration of DEMES and its DC dynamic response when driven by a Heaviside electric load. In particular, we highlight the favorable impact of adding stiffeners in enhancing the stroke of the DEMES and an amplification in the attained equilibrium angle with an increasing spacing between the stiffeners. The analytical model and the results reported in this investigation can be of potential use in pre-designing the geometrical and material properties of DEMES for enhancing its electromechanical performance.

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“…Moreover, DEMES can transform the linear strain of a DE film to an angular deformation of a frame, and a large angular deformation can be realized by only a small linear strain. It has therefore attracted much attention to its theory and applications (Buchberger et al, 2013;Gisby et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2016;O'Brien et al, 2009;Rhode-Barbarigos et al, 2014;Rosset et al, 2014;Shintake et al, 2015aShintake et al, , 2015bZhao et al, 2015aZhao et al, , 2015bZhao et al, , 2015cZhao et al, , 2016aZhao et al, , 2016b.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A method to increase the dynamic deformation of a dielectric elastomer minimum energy structures rotary joint without increase of the voltage amplitude

Wang

Huang

McCoul

et al. 2019

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

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The traditional method to increase the dynamic deformation of a dielectric elastomer actuator is to increase the voltage applied on the dielectric elastomer. Based on the characteristics of dielectric elastomer minimum energy structures, a method to increase the deformation is proposed, which does not increase the applied voltage amplitude. We found that the frequency and duty cycle of the applied voltage will influence the range of deformation strongly, and the moment the power is switched off, [Formula: see text] is a key factor to the deformation range; therefore, the frequency and duty cycle can be optimized to obtain the largest deformation range with an expected vibrational frequency. Two groups of experiments were compared to validate this optimization principle, and the range of deformation with optimized parameters was found to be 1.67 times larger on average than with normal parameters.

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Bistable dielectric elastomer minimum energy structures

Cited by 43 publications

References 23 publications

Review of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators and Their Applications in Soft Robots

Review of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators and Their Applications in Soft Robots

An Energy-Based Nonlinear Dynamic Model of Dielectric Elastomer Minimum Energy Structures with Stiffeners: Equilibrium Configuration and the Electromechanical Response

A method to increase the dynamic deformation of a dielectric elastomer minimum energy structures rotary joint without increase of the voltage amplitude

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