Modeling of Actuator System Based on a Dielectric Electro-Active Polymer Circular Membrane when Operating Against a Constant Loading Force

摘要

This paper presents experimentation of a small profile, scalable DEAP actuator system. The actuator system consists of a bi-stable mechanism (a negative-rate bias spring, or NBS), and a linear spring coupled with a circular membrane dielectric electro-active polymer (DEAP) actuator. The combined spring mechanism biases the DEAP allowing actuation when the voltage is cycled and is shown to have a major impact on the overall system performance. Particularly the NBS-biased actuator can exhibit up to a fourfold increase in displacement stroke in comparison with conventional linear springs. In this work tests against a compressive constant load are performed. The load is applied via current control to a linear motor drive. The results show that the DEAP actuator must be tuned to operate optimally against such a load. A non-linear DEAP model based on a hyper-elastic Odgen model is used to make quasi-static simulations of the actuator working against a load. The model is validated qualitatively with experimental data and provides insight into the understanding and future optimization of circular membrane DEAPs actuators when performing work for various applications.