Localised strain sensing of dielectric elastomers in a stretchable soft-touch musical keyboard

Xu, Daniel; Tairych, Andreas; Anderson, Iain A.

doi:10.1117/12.2084770

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The secret of localizing internal pressure lies in the distributed resistance [24,25] within the DE's electrodes. As a trade-off for high stretchability, low cost electrode materials such as carbon powder, particles [8,13] or gels do not serve as ideal electrical conductors.…”

Section: The Transmission Line Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather than using n sensors to distinguish n positions, we demonstrate how to segregate and localize the internal capacitance change in two dimensions without adding any additional wires or hardware (figure 2). The method is based a distributed transmission line model [13,[24][25][26][27] which separates the DE into smaller constituent sections that can be sensed independently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Stretch not flex: programmable rubber keyboard

Tairych

Anderson

2015

Smart Mater. Struct.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stretchability is a property that brings versatility and design freedom to human interface devices. We present a soft, flexible and stretchable keyboard made from a dielectric elastomer sensor sheet. Using a multi-frequency capacitance sensing technique based on a transmission line model, we demonstrate how this keyboard can detect touch in two dimensions, programmable to increase the number of keys and into different layouts, all without adding any new wires, connections or modifying the hardware. The method is efficient and scalable for large sensing systems with multiple degrees of freedom.

show abstract

Section: The Transmission Line Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stretch not flex: programmable rubber keyboard

Tairych

Anderson

2015

Smart Mater. Struct.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…DEs have also been used as artificial muscles in designing walking robots [5], programmable grippers [6], camouflage devices [7], and antifouling systems [8]. In addition to those, transparent DE loudspeakers [9], planar DE rotary motors [10], and nonlinear DE strain gauges [11] have also been successfully made recently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voltage-Induced Wrinkling in a Constrained Annular Dielectric Elastomer Film

Jiang

et al. 2017

Journal of Applied Mechanics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wrinkles can be often observed in dielectric elastomer (DE) films when they are subjected to electrical voltage and mechanical forces. In the applications of DEs, wrinkle formation is often regarded as an indication of system failure. However, in some scenarios, wrinkling in DE does not necessarily result in material failure and can be even controllable. Although tremendous efforts have been made to analyze and calculate a variety of deformation modes in DE structures and devices, a model which is capable of analyzing wrinkling phenomena including the critical electromechanical conditions for the onset of wrinkles and wrinkle morphology in DE structures is currently unavailable. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate controllable wrinkling in annular DE films with the central part being mechanically constrained. By changing the ratio between the inner radius and outer radius of the annular films, wrinkles with different wavelength can be induced in the films when externally applied voltage exceeds a critical value. To analyze wrinkling phenomena in DE films, we formulate a linear plate theory of DE films subjected to electromechanical loadings. Using the model, we successfully predict the wavelength of the voltage-induced wrinkles in annular DE films. The model developed in this paper can be used to design voltage-induced wrinkling in DE structures for different engineering applications.

show abstract

“…There have been limited designs of DE keyboards developed [21]. An example is Xu's stretch rubber keyboard [22]; however, only this proposed MLC sensor allows a truly flexible, conformal, and stretchable keyboard to be realized.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Dielectric Elastomer-Based Multimodal Capacitive Sensor

Zhu

Giffney

2022

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dielectric elastomer (DE) sensors have been widely used in a wide variety of applications, such as in robotic hands, wearable sensors, rehabilitation devices, etc. A unique dielectric elastomer-based multimodal capacitive sensor has been developed to quantify the pressure and the location of any touch simultaneously. This multimodal sensor is a soft, flexible, and stretchable dielectric elastomer (DE) capacitive pressure mat that is composed of a multi-layer soft and stretchy DE sensor. The top layer measures the applied pressure, while the underlying sensor array enables location identification. The sensor is placed on a passive elastomeric substrate in order to increase deformation and optimize the sensor’s sensitivity. This DE multimodal capacitive sensor, with pressure and localization capability, paves the way for further development with potential applications in bio-mechatronics technology and other humanoid devices. The sensor design could be useful for robotic and other applications, such as fruit picking or as a bio-instrument for the diabetic insole.

show abstract

Localised strain sensing of dielectric elastomers in a stretchable soft-touch musical keyboard

Cited by 7 publications

References 13 publications

Stretch not flex: programmable rubber keyboard

Stretch not flex: programmable rubber keyboard

Voltage-Induced Wrinkling in a Constrained Annular Dielectric Elastomer Film

A Dielectric Elastomer-Based Multimodal Capacitive Sensor

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About