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31
5 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
Emilio Calius
Callaghan Innovation
University of Auckland
SEE PROFILE
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Appl Phys A
DOI 10.1007/s00339-010-5857-z
R A P I D C O M M U N I C AT I O N
Abstract Some of the most exciting possibilities for dielectric elastomer artificial muscles consist of biologically inspired networks of smart actuators working towards common goals. However, the creation of these networks will
only be realised once intelligence and feedback can be fully
distributed throughout an artificial muscle device. Here we
show that dielectric elastomer artificial muscles can be built
with intrinsic sensor, control, and driver circuitry, bringing
them closer in capability to their natural analogues. This was
achieved by exploiting the piezoresistive behaviour of the
actuators highly compliant electrodes using what we have
called the dielectric elastomer switch. We developed suitable switching material using carbon loaded silicone grease
and experimentally demonstrated the primitives required for
self-sensing actuators and digital computation, namely compliant electromechanical NAND gates and oscillator circuits. We anticipate that dielectric elastomer switches will
reduce the need for bulky and rigid external circuitry as well
B.M. OBrien () T. Inamura I.A. Anderson
The Biomimetics Laboratory of the Auckland Bioengineering
Institute, The University of Auckland, Level 6 Uniservices House,
70 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
e-mail: ben.obrien@auckland.ac.nz
E.P. Calius
Industrial Research Limited, Brooke House, 24 Balfour Road,
P.O. Box 2225, Auckland 1140, New Zealand
S.Q. Xie
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering,
The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland Mail
Centre, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
I.A. Anderson
Department of Engineering Science, School of Engineering, The
University of Auckland, Level 3 Uniservices House, 70 Symonds
Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
1 Introduction
Artificial muscles based on Dielectric Elastomer Actuator(s)
(DEA) [1, 2] are attractive for a wide range of applications
for reasons such as their large active strains and self-sensing
ability [38]. DEA are flexible capacitors formed from compliant dielectrics and electrodes. When charged, Coulombic
attraction gives rise to thickness compression and planar expansion of the actuator. These electrostatic forces are described in (1) as a Maxwell Pressure [1, 2, 9], where P is
the active stress in the thickness direction, V is the voltage,
t is the thickness, and o and r and respectively the absolute
and relative permittivities. Thus actuation of artificial muscles can be controlled through applied voltage or charge.
P = o r
V
t
2
(1)
Although DEA are capable of self-sensing and servocontrolled responses, this requires signal conditioning circuitry and microcontrollers. The voltages involved are high,
often in the several kilovolt range, while the currents are
very low, in the hundreds of microampere range, and there
are few electronic components designed for this combination. All of this circuitry tends to be complex, bulky, and
expensive and cannot be easily used to distribute feedback
throughout a device.
Fig. 5 DES and DEA layout. DEA are labelled C13 and DES are
labelled R13, a/b. The actuators were spaced at the corners of a 90 mm
equilateral triangle with outer and inner diameters of 80 and 50 mm
respectively
the track in the clockwise direction. The oscillator was designed so that the ratio of actuator displacement under the
ball to the actuation that this displacement induced was less
than one. If not, the rails would not tilt sufficiently and the
ball would stall.
3 Results
50 mm. Multiple 15 mm Rfixed resistors were painted
and tested to see which had the correct resistance, or connected together to form the correct resistance. This helped to
overcome fabrication variability. The NAND gate response
was characterised as the input channels were cycled between
20 and 2600 V and the output was connected to a second
NAND gate input.
The electromechanical oscillator consisted of three artificial muscles made of VHB 4905 pre-stretched 250% equibiaxially and supporting a set of rails on which a ball rolled
(Figs. 4, 5). When a muscle was activated, it would extend
downwards under the influence of gravity and tilt the rails,
rolling the ball. The electrode layout is shown in Fig. 5 and
an equivalent circuit in Fig. 6. The electrodes were patterned
to form actuator sections and switching sections. The actuator sections are designated C13 and were made using Nyogel 756G carbon grease. Coupled to each actuator were two
switching sections designated R13a and R13b and made
of the switching compound. When an actuator section was
displaced under the weight of the ball, the switches acted to
throttle the charging current of the actuator in the anticlockwise direction and the discharging current in the clockwise
direction. This caused the rails to tilt, rolling the ball around
of the oscillator. Removing the ball caused the device to oscillate at approximately 2.3 Hz governed by the inertia of
the rails.
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