Review of Soft Linear Actuator and the Design of a Dielectric Elastomer Linear Actuator

Abstract

Natural muscle provides excellent motilities for animals. As the basic unit of the muscle system, the skeletal muscle fibers function as a soft linear actuator. Inspired by the muscle fibers, researchers have developed various soft active devices with linear actuation. This paper reviews several soft linear actuators, such as the dielectric elastomer, thermal responsive hydrogels, pneumatic artificial muscle, and conducting polymers. The actuation mechanisms and performances of these soft linear actuators are summarized. Based on the dielectric elastomer, we propose a design of a hybrid system with linear actuation, driven by both the electric motor and dielectric elastomer cone. The electromechanical behaviors of the dielectric elastomer cone have been investigated in both experiment and finite element analysis. This work may guide the further design of soft actuators and robots.

Modeling and nonlinear dynamics of a dielectric elastomer soft sandwich cantilever plate

“…Besides, the subharmonic resonance peak also shifts toward right with the increasing voltage. Due to the nonlinear coupling, modes (1, 1), (1,3) and (2, 1) present the additional branches in the frequency region corresponding to the local peak of mode (1,2). Comparing the results in Cases 1 and 2, it is found that the combined voltage excitation composed of both the AC and DC components can stimulate the nonlinear dynamic response of the soft cantilever plate more effectively.…”

“…Generally, DEs are regarded to be a class of typical soft materials whose mechanical deformation behaviors are similar to hyperelastic materials. Due to their outstanding characteristics, including the fast response, high energy density, low noise, light weight, marvelous flexibility, excellent inherent compliance, as well as low cost, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have attracted considerable interest, and become a promising soft actuator technology for bioinspired robotics [1][2][3] . As an important source of inspiration for the soft actuator designer, the bird wings and fin structures of aquatic animals can be modeled by cantilever plates which are widely applied in the engineering filed, such as airplane wings, satellite solar panels and turbine blades [4][5][6][7][8] .…”

Effect of Prestrain on the Actuation Characteristics of Dielectric Elastomers

“…So far, a bulk of the studies conducted provide the actuations mostly in term of percentage, i.e., 10%, 40%, 100%, 200%; however, for specific applications like in soft robotics or even in artificial muscles and other biomimetic devices, each component requires a specific amount of actuating force [ 5 , 14 ]. Therefore, we propose the actuation in terms of relative force which has also been regarded as an ultimate motivation of the present study.…”

Preface to the “Soft Matter Mechanics” Special Issue of Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica

“…Lü et al [9] theoretically derived the output power of ultrathin flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters under a variety of excitation modes. Cao et al [10] reviewed the actuation mechanisms and performances of representative soft linear actuators made from smart materials such as dielectric elastomers, thermal responsive hydrogels, pneumatic artificial muscles and conducting polymers. Ma et al [11] designed an experimental setup to quantify the out-of-plane vibrations and different response modes of a circular dielectric elastomer actuator.…”