CONTROL OF ACTUATOR DEVICE BASED ON AN ELECTROACTIVE POLYMER

摘要

An actuator device comprises an electroactive polymer (30) and a controller (34) for delivering a drive signal to the electroactive polymer to make it deform. The controller is adapted to generate a signal which comprises an AC component for introducing a vibration (40, 42) of the electroactive polymer. This vibration is used to reduce friction between the electroactive polymer and an adjacent component (32). The AC component may be superposed on a low frequency AC or DC drive level.