EAP transducers

The field of electroactive transducers has reached a certain maturity that they can be used in establishing flmctional devices. The object of this chapter is to review configurations for flmctional devices articulated with EAP actuators, or combination of actuators and sensors, which can be considered as the devices. It is our tmder-standing that a device is an invention or a means such as a mechanical, electrical, or a combination of both, for a particular purpose. A transducer is a device which converts one form of energy into another, e.g., electrical into mechanical and vice versa. This follows that EAP transducers refer to the actuators, sensors, and energy harvesters made of electroactive polymers. 

It must be noted after a model is identified, a new set of experimental data is required to validate it in order to have confidence in its accuracy for the purpose or application it is established for. Establishing a valid model is one of the scientific and reliable tools researchers or practitioners use to undertake system analysis and design and optimize the system configuration and performance in order to establish and validate various concepts and ideas. To this end, significant research has been dedicated to the modeling and identification of EAP transducers. The procedure for model identification, which aims to obtain a mathematical model from input-output data, is depicted in Fig. 9. 

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

Kornbluh R, Pelrine R, Pei Q, Heydt R, Stanford S, Oh S, Eckerle J (2002) Electroelastomers applications of dielectric elastomer transducers for actuation, generation, and smart structures. Proc SPIE EAP AD 4698 254... 

In the last few decades this need for new actuators has drawn considerable effort towards the development of materials that can directly transduce an input energy into mechanical work. Much of this attention has been focused, and is increasingly being focused today, on electroactive polymers (EAPs). This is a large family of materials that includes many different chemical structures, actuation mechanisms and electromechanical performances. 

While the performance of a dielectric elastomer transducer depends upon the dielectric and elastomeric properties of the polymer material, a great many polymer materials can be used. Because of this flexibility, unlike most other electroactive polymers (EAPs), different polymer materials can be selected for different applications, depending on the desired performance and physical properties. The best performing materials (those with greatest strains) are based on commercially available formulations of silicone rubber (polydimethyl siloxane) and acrylic elastomers such as the VHB series from 3M Corp. (Minnesota, USA) [11]. 

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