Dynamic response of tubular dielectric elastomer transducers

Abstract

In this paper, a numerical model for the dynamic response of tubular dielectric elastomer transducers is presented and validated with experimental results for the first time. Dielectric elastomers (DE) are soft polymer based smart materials that can be potentially employed in applications such as actuation, sensing and energy harvesting ( Kornbluh, 2004; Carpi et al., 2005; Waki et al., 2008). In our previous work, the quasi-static response of tubular DE transducers was studied ( Goulbourne et al., 2007; Son and Goulbourne, 2009). Here, a numerical model is developed to predict the dynamic response of tubular DE transducers. Inertia effects are included in our previous static model which yields a system of partial differential equations. The results of the dynamic response of the tubular DE transducers are obtained by numerically solving the simplified partial different equations using a finite difference scheme. The capacitance change induced by the dynamic deformation of the tubular DE is also calculated by a simple electrostatic model, illustrating dynamic passive sensing. Several tubular DE transducer samples (VHB 4905 and silicone) were fabricated and an experimental setup was developed to investigate the dynamic response by measuring capacitance and radial deformation. In the sensing experiments, a sweep of dynamic pressure profiles (0–5 Hz) are applied. It is observed that silicone transducers have a larger dynamic sensing range. In the actuation experiments, the deformation of the silicone actuator is monitored while a voltage signal (4.5 kV) is applied from 0 to 30 Hz. The silicone actuator shows a good actuation response. The comparison between numerical and experimental results for the DE transducers shows an overall error of 3%.