Electroactive polymer artificial muscle

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.)... 

Chiba S, Waki M, Kornbluh R, Pelrine R (2008) Innovative power generators for energy harvesting using electroactive polymer artificial muscles. Proc SPIE 6927 692715... 

Grasso, F.W. Why use bones if you have the muscles Worldwide ElectroActive Polymer (Artificial Muscles) Newsletter 3, 7 (2001)... 

Kombluh, R., Pelrine, R., Pei, Q., and Shastri, S.V. Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles. Reality, Potential and Challenges, First edition, SPIE— the International Society for Optical Engineering, Bellingham, Washington, 2001, Chapter 16. 

Shahipoor M., Electro-mechanics of ion-elastic beams as electrically-controhable artificial muscles Proc. SPIE, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, 3669 (1999) 109. 

Electroactive polymer and rolled electroactive polymers having dielectric constants between 2.5 and about 12 were used by Kornbluh [3] and Rosenthal [4], respectively, to prepare artificial muscles. 

Kim, K.J. and Tadokoro, S. (eds) (2007) Electroactive Polymers for Robotics Applications. Artificial Muscles and Sensors, Springer-Verlag, London. 

Avci A (2008) Modellierung und Simulation elektroaktiver Polymere im Rahmen der Theorie poroser Medien. Master s Thesis, Universitat Stuttgart Bar-Cohen Y (2001) Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles - Reality, Potential, and Challenges, PM 98, ch. EAP History, Current Status, and Infrastructure, pp. 4-44, SPIE Press, Bellingham, WA, USA... 

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 ability to lock in strain is very important for applications wherein the device must hold its actuated state for an extended period of time. Conventional dielectric materials consume energy when actuated due to current leakage through the film, and can succumb to premature breakdown when held at high strain for an extended period of time. By locking in the actuated shape, BSEPs can hold their actuated shape without draining power and can maintain that shape indefinitely without failure. This combination of properties places BSEP materials at the forefront in terms of electroactive polymer materials for artificial muscle applications. 

Bar-Cohen Y (2004) Electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators as artificial muscle, 2nd edn. SPIE Press, Bellingham... 

Kim KJ, Tadokoro S (2007) Electroactive polymers for robotic applications artificial muscles and sensors. Springer, London... 

Shahinpoor M, Kim KJ, Mojarrad M (2007) Artificial muscles applications of advanced polymeric nanocomposites. CRC Press Taylm Francis Group, Boca Raton Carpi F, Smela E (2009) Biomedical applications of electroactive polymer actuators. Wiley, Chichester... 

Banik, M.S. (2004) Electroactive polymer based artificial sphincters and artificial muscle patches, US Patent 6,749,556, Jun. 15, 2004. 

Carpi, E, Kornbluh, R, Sommer-Larsen, E, AUci, G., 2011. Electroactive polymer actuators as artificial muscles are they ready for bioinspired applications Bioinspir. Biomim. 6,045006. 

Y. Bar-Cohen, Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles-Reality. Potential and Challenges, SPIE Press, Bellingham, WA, 2001. 

Such polymers can be modified into high dielectric, photoactive, and electroactive materials by tailoring them with tetra amino metalphthalocyanines. As metals, copper, nickel, and cobalt have been used. The cyanine is attached at the pending carboxyl group [13]. This modification enhances the thermal stability of the materials. These polymers are potential candidates in applications, such as sensors, actuators, artificial muscles, bypass capacitors in microelectronics, and energy-storage devices. 

Zhang, Q., and J. Scheinbeim. 2001. Electric EAR In Electroactive polymer (EAR) actuators as artificial muscles Reality, potential, and challenges, ed. Y. Bar-Cohen, 89-138. Bellingham SPIE Press. 

Usually, artificial muscle based on electrostrictive, piezoelectric, electrostatic, or ferroelectric materials have been manufactured as a film of the dry polymer, both sides coated with a thin metallic film required to apply the electric field. Electrokinetic artificial muscles [5,6] are constituted by films of polymeric gel (polymer, solvent, and salt) and two electrodes, located as close as possible to the material or coating both on sides, which are required to apply the electric field that drives the electroosmotic process. Any of the actuators described in this paragraph has a triple layer structure metal-electroactive polymer-metal (Figure 16.2). 

Verdii, R., J. Morales, A. Fernandez-Romero, M.T. Cortes, T.F. Otero, and L. Weruaga. 2002. Mechanical characterization of artificial muscles with computer vision. In Electroactive polymer actuators and devices, vol. 4695, ed. Y. Bar-Cohen, 253. SPIE. 

Throughout the chapters of this book we considered several types of electroactive materials in a view of using them as biomimetic artificial muscles. In particular, ionic polymer-metal composites, conjugated polymers, and dielectric elastomers were considered. 

Bar-Cohen, Y. (2004). Electroactive Polymer(EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles (SPIE press). 

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