An accurate physical-based electromechanical model of a commercially available tubular dielectric elastomer (DE) actuator has been developed and validated. In this contribution, the use of the physical-based electromechanical model to formulate a model-based controller is examined. The choice of control scheme was dictated by the desire for transparency in both controller design and operation. The internal model control (IMC) approach was chosen. In this particular application, the inverse of the linearized form of the grey-box model is used to formulate the IMC controller. To ensure consistent control performance across the operating range of the DE actuator, a gain scheduling term, which linearizes the operating characteristics of the tubular dielectric elastomer actuator, is developed and implemented in series with the IMC controller. The IMC-based approach is investigated for servo control of the DE actuator position as well as its ability to provide vibration isolation of a payload subject to ground vibration.
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