Multifunctional fatigue testing setup for in-plane operating DEAs

摘要

Dielectric Elastomers (DEs) represent a class of soft electro-mechanical transducers, which is promising compared to conventional actuation technologies due to features such as lightweight, high energy efficiency, and low operational noise. Despite several prototypes have been proposed in the recent literature, only very few of them have been commercialized yet. To further DE technology towards real-life applications, it is of great importance to quantify the long-term performance of theses transducers in terms of electrical and mechanical fatigue under controllable environmental conditions. In order to investigate these properties, this paper introduces a modular electro-mechanical testing device that is designed in order to determine the long-term and fatigue characteristics of rectangular shaped DE actuator (DEA) membranes working under in-plane loading conditions. Each module permits to arbitrarily program mechanical stroke and applied voltage, and also enables simultaneous testing of five samples. Quantities of measurement are force and current. The modules are placed inside of a climate chamber which provides testing environments with constant temperature and humidity. To ensure uninterrupted 24/7-operation, the setup provides safety-equipment with remote control and remote monitoring. First test results are presented in this work.