High-pressure endurable flexible tactile actuator based on microstructured dielectric elastomer

Abstract

We demonstrate a robust flexible tactile actuator that is capable of working under high external pressures. The tactile actuator is based on a pyramidal microstructured dielectric elastomer layer inducing variation in both mechanical and dielectric properties. The vibrational performance of the actuator can be modulated by changing the geometric parameter of the microstructures. We evaluated the performance of the actuator under high-pressure loads up to 25 kPa, which is over the typical range of pressure applied when humans touch or manipulate objects. Due to the benefit of nonlinearity of the pyramidal structure, the actuator could maintain high mechanical output under various external pressures in the frequency range of 100–200 Hz, which is the most sensitive to vibration acceleration for human finger pads. The responses are not only fast, reversible, and highly durable under consecutive cyclic operations, but also large enough to impart perceivable vibrations for haptic feedback on practical wearable device applications.

Oscillating Surfaces Fueled by a Continuous AC Electric Field

“…Surface deformation is produced by a periodic electrostatic attraction based on Maxwell stresses. Maxwell stresses are well known and extensively studied and applied for actuation of electroactive polymers . Generally, a two‐plate capacitor configuration is established where a thin elastomeric film is coated at both sides with flexible electrodes.…”

Functional Liquid Crystal Polymer Surfaces with Switchable Topographies

“…[ 17 ] PDMS has been demonstrated to be a promising material in wearable devices, where PDMS‐based switchable surfaces would be useful for instance in haptic applications. [ 34–36 ] However, the wrinkled structures are rather random and lack directionality. In LC polymers, LC mesogens are usually aligned in a certain order.…”

Transparent Film-Type Vibrotactile Actuator Array and Its Haptic Rendering Using Beat Phenomenon

“…Therefore, it is not easy to apply these actuators to flexible mobile consumer electronic devices. To overcome these problems, many researchers have developed flexible vibrotactile actuators using an electroactive polymer (EAP) [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20].…”

“…Because of these characteristics, ionic EAPs can hardly be suitable materials for a haptic actuator. To create a strong force with a fast response, electric EAPs have been studied intensively [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. Kim et al presented a transparent soft actuator based on graphene electrodes [13].…”

“…Mun et al fabricated a soft vibrotacitle actuator through multilayered accumulation of thin electroactive polymer (EAP) films and then developed a tactile stimulation interface applicable to wearable devices [19]. Pyo et al proposed a robust flexible tactile actuator based on a pyramidal microstructured dielectric elastomer layer [20]. These works can create a wide range of operating frequencies to create various haptic sensations.…”