Artificial muscles dielectric elastomer

Actuator Artificial muscle Dielectric elastomer Electroactive polymer Generator Sensor Transducer... 

FIGURE 10.13 Basic mechanism of dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) generator. (From Kombluh, R., Power from plastic How electroactive polymer artificial muscles will improve portable power generator in tbe 21st century military, Presented at TRI-Service Power Expo, Norfolk, Virginia, July 2003. With permission.)... 

Kombluh, R.D., Flamm, D.S., Vujkovic-Civijin, P., Pelrine, R.E., and Huestis, D., Large fight weight mirrors control by dielectric elastomer artificial muscle, AAS 200 meeting, Albuquerque, NM, June 2002, Paper no. 63-06. 

Keywords Dielectric elastomer Electroactive polymer Bistable electroactive polymers Actuator Transducer Artificial muscle DE EAP BSEP... 

Today the number of electroactive polymers has grown substantially. There currently exists a wide variety of such materials, ranging from rigid carbon-nanotubes to soft dielectric elastomers. A number of reviews and overviews have been prepared on these and other materials for use as artificial muscles and other applications [1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 13-28]. The next section will provide a survey of the most common electrically activated EAP technologies and provide some pertinent performance values. The remainder of the paper will focus specifically on dielectric elastomers. Several actuation properties for these materials are summarized in Table 1.1 along with other actuation technologies including mammalian muscle. It is important to note that data was recorded for different materials under different conditions so the information provided in the table should only be used as a qualitative comparison tool. 

The benefit of being able to sense deflections, generate energy, and modulate stiffness may have substantial impacts on the use of dielectric elastomers as artificial muscles in robotic and prosthetic applications. The DE elements could act as artificial analogs of natural muscle, sensory systems, and digestive systems. A robot consisting of DE elements should therefore someday be capable of controlled motion without the need for additional sensors, and self-sustainability without requiring and an external source of electricity. 

Jung K, Nam H, Lee Y, Choi H (2004) Micro inchwOTm robot actuated by artificial muscle actuator based on nonprestrained dielectric elastomer. Proc SPIE 5385 357... 

Pelrine R, Kornbluh R, Pei Q, Stanford S, Oh S, Eckerle J (2002) Dielectric elastomer artificial muscle actuators toward biomimetic motion. Proc SPIE 4695 126... 

Chiba S, Waki M, Kornbluh R, Pelrine R (2007) Extending applications of dielectric elastomer artificial muscle. Proc SPIE 6524 652424... 

Brochu P, Pei Q (2010) Advances in dielectric elastomers for actuators and artificial muscles. Macromol Rapid Commun 31 10-36... 

Touch Sensitive Dielectric Elastomer Artificial Muscles... 

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