Challenges and Perspectives in Control of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) Actuators: A Survey

Aabloo, Alvo; Belikov, Juri; Kaparin, Vadim; Kotta, Ülle

doi:10.1109/access.2020.3007020

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 118 publications

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“…Although this response has been more intensely studied in recent years, predominantly through modeling, few publications focus on experimental quantification of how the IPMC's back-relaxation response will change in varying hydration conditions. Authors have proposed several theories to justify this feature, with most agreeing that it results from the interplay between the ionic (electrostatic) and solvent transport properties within the polymer core [34][35][36][37]. More recent investigations also suggested that there is an intrinsic correlation between this response and electrolysis of the contained water within the IPMC in regions close to the external electrodes [34,38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of environmental conditions and voltage application on the electromechanical performance of Nafion-Pt IPMC actuators

Arnold¹,

Su²,

Sabolsky³

2022

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites (IPMCs) are a class of Ionic-type Electroactive Polymers (I-EAPs) which can be configured as capacitor actuators with very low voltage requirements (≤ 5 V AC or DC). Their compact, portable, and lightweight properties, coupled with a biomimetic bending actuation response, makes them ideal for human-machine integrated technologies such as medical implants, active skins, and artificial muscles. Unfortunately, IPMC actuator’s hydration-related sensitivity inhibits practical application in industry and makes experimental research difficult. Therefore, this research sought to quantify the hydration-related parameters of IPMC actuators by applying a wide range of experimental tests to characterize the material’s hydration-dependent features. This included saturation, dielectric, and bending actuation measurements. The IPMC’s degree of saturation properties were classified to establish sample rehydration, preparation, and preservation techniques. IPMC electrical-solvent properties were measured to estimate IPMC actuation performance based on capacitance and dissipation measurements. Maximized actuation was identified for samples tested in 95 % RH (i.e., percentage relative humidity). This condition produced a optimized displacement range and retained quality. Through statistical analysis, the work showed large electroactive performance variability (up to 50% deviation), which is a primary obstacle inhibiting this technology from practical application. Finally, an array of electrical field bias applications (i.e., cycled, constant, and post voltage removal monitoring) at intensities ranging from 0.75 to 1.2 direct current voltage (DCV) were used to quantify actuation rate, maximum displacement, as well as voltage application and removal back-relaxation behavior.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of environmental conditions and voltage application on the electromechanical performance of Nafion-Pt IPMC actuators

Arnold¹,

Su²,

Sabolsky³

2022

Smart Mater. Struct.

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“…Localized aggregation of heat can lead to regional differences in reaction rates, while bubble generation can form defects on the surface of the membrane or prevent uniform deposition of the metal, all of which can result in non-uniformity in the thickness of the coating. The non-uniformity of the plating can directly affect the electrical properties and mechanical response of IPMC, especially its deformation behavior [26,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of IPMC actuators with high bending uniformity and orientation

Lin,

Xu,

Wang

et al. 2024

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators have attracted considerable scientific interest in the field of robotics and artificial muscles due to their low operating voltage, high strain capacity, and lightweight. However, the non-uniform bending of IPMC actuators affects their control accuracy and limits their potential applications. In this work, the surface voltage of IPMC actuators was measured and the internal electric field distribution was numerically computed. It was concluded that the non-uniform bending is mainly due to the non-uniform distribution of hydrated cations inside the IPMC as a result of the inhomogeneous electric field. The bending uniformity is improved by sputtering a gold layer on the surface of the IPMC actuator, and a support strip is introduced to limit the bending of the IPMC in the width direction, resulting in an improvement of its pointing characteristics. It is found that the bending uniformity of IPMC improved by 108.32% and 220.63% by sputtering at an input voltage of 2.5V and 5V respectively. When the input voltage is fixed at 2.5V and 5V, the bending in the width direction is reduced by 92.31% and 95.17% with the support structure, respectively.

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“…Representative application examples include biomimetic robots and grippers. 1 Among them, ionic conductive polymer actuators have been actively researched because they can be driven at low voltage, operate quietly, and are lightweight. Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) is typical of them, 2,3 and it is often used with ionic exchange membrane and water as a solvent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerating electro-ionic soft actuators by feedforward control and the performance degradation by voltage limits

Nakada,

Garai,

Hiruta

et al. 2024

Soft Mechatronics and Wearable Systems

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Electro-ionic soft actuators have the advantages of being possible to drive at low voltage and to operate in the air by using ionic liquid. However, they have a disadvantage of slow response. This paper proposes to accelerate electro-ionic soft actuators by feedforward control. Feedforward control can automatically generate online pulseshaped input signals from any reference signals and is easy to implement. The experimental results show that the feedforward control can automatically generate control inputs for any references and achieve 2 times faster than the no-control case. In addition, it was found that the control performance was significantly degraded when a voltage limit was set to protect the actuator.

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Challenges and Perspectives in Control of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) Actuators: A Survey

Cited by 20 publications

References 118 publications

Influence of environmental conditions and voltage application on the electromechanical performance of Nafion-Pt IPMC actuators

Influence of environmental conditions and voltage application on the electromechanical performance of Nafion-Pt IPMC actuators

Development of IPMC actuators with high bending uniformity and orientation

Accelerating electro-ionic soft actuators by feedforward control and the performance degradation by voltage limits

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