Self-Sensing Ionic Polymer Actuators: A Review

Self-Sensing Ionic Polymer Actuators: A Review

Ionic electromechanically active polymers (IEAP) are laminar composites that can be considered attractive candidates for soft actuators. Their outstanding properties such as low operating voltage, easy miniaturization, and noiseless operation are, however, marred by issues related to the repeatability in the production and operation of these materials. Implementing closed-loop control for IEAP ...

A Short Review on Fabrication Methods of Micro-Cantilever for Ionic Electroactive Polymer Sensors/Actuators

   Micro-electroactive polymers have wide applications from industry to healthcare. Artificial muscles, microvalves, microswitches, haptic sensing, blood pressure and pulse monitoring are some potential applications for micro-electroactive polymers. The most advantage of micro-electroactive polymers as sensors and actuators is bio-compatibility and low power threshold for large deformations...

Electromechanical Modelling of Ionic Electroactive Polymer Actuators

Migration of ions under electric field is the phenomenon behind the mechanical deformation of ionic polymer actuators. This transport process is influenced by numerous factors depending on the physical, chemical and electrical properties of the material used [1]. Among them porosity and tortuosity are one of the main influencing factors that modifies ion channels and so the properties of the ma...

Self-Sensing Solid-State Actuators

Integrated sensing for ionic polymer–metal composite actuators using PVDF thin films

Abstract Compact sensing methods are desirable for ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) actuators in microrobotic and biomedical applications. In this paper a novel sensing scheme for IPMC actuators is proposed by bonding an IPMC and a PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) thin film with an insulating layer in between. The insulating layer thickness is properly designed to minimize the stiffness of th...