Experimental study and electromechanical model analysis of the nonlinear deformation behavior of IPMC actuators

This paper develops analytical electromechanical formulas to predict the mechanical deformation of ionic polymer–metal composite(IPMC) cantilever actuators under DC excitation voltages. In this research, IPMC samples with Pt and Ag electrodes were manufactured, and the large nonlinear deformation and the effect of curvature on surface electrode resistance of the IPMC samples were investigated experimentally and theoretically. A distributed electrical model was modified for calculating the distribution of voltage along the bending actuator. Then an irreversible thermodynamic model that could predict the curvature of a unit part of an IPMC actuator is combined with the electrical model so that an analytical electromechanical model is developed. The electromechanical model is then validated against the experimental results obtained from Pt-and Ag-IPMC actuators under various excitation voltages. The good agreement between the electromechanical model and the actuators shows that the analytical electromechanical model can accurately describe the large nonlinear quasi-static deflection behavior of IPMC actuators.     

A comparative study of piezoelectric unimorph and multilayer actuators as stiffness sensors via contact resonance

Piezoelectric bar-shaped resonators were proposed to act as hardness sensors in the 1960 s and stiffness sensors in the 1990 s based on the contact impedance method.In this work, we point out that both multilayer and unimorph(or bimorph) piezoelectric actuators could act as stiffness/modulus sensors based on the principle of mechanical contact resonance. First, the practical design and the performance of a piezoelectric unimorph actuator–based stiffness sensor were presented. Then the working principle of piezoelectric multilayer actuator–based stiffness sensors was given and verified by numerical investigation. It was found that for these two types of resonance-based sensors, the shift of the resonance frequency due to contact is always positive, which is different from that of the contact impedance method. Further comparative sensitivity study indicated that the unimorph actuator–based stiffness sensor is very suitable for measurement on soft materials, whereas the multilayer actuator–based sensor is more suitable for hard materials.     

主动振动控制中传感／作动元件配置问题的全局优化方法研究

提出了一种主动振动控制中作动／传感元件位置的复合优化方法，它能有效地解决全局优化配置问题；通过对单点并置问题的优化，证明了该优化方法的有效性，并对多点配置问题也具有一定的参考价值。     

Implicit frictional-contact model for soft particle systems

We introduce a novel numerical approach for the simulation of soft particles interacting via frictional contacts. This approach is based on an implicit formulation of the Material Point Method, allowing for large particle deformations, combined with the Contact Dynamics method for the treatment of unilateral frictional contacts between particles. This approach is both precise due to the treatment of contacts with no regularization and artificial damping parameters, and robust due to implicit time integration of both bulk degrees of freedom and relative contact velocities at the nodes representing the contact points. By construction, our algorithm is capable of handling arbitrary particle shapes and deformations. We illustrate this approach by two simple 2D examples: a Hertz contact and a rolling particle on an inclined plane. We also investigate the compaction of a packing of circular particles up to a solid fraction well above the jamming limit of hard particles. We find that, for the same level of deformation, the solid fraction in a packing of frictional particles is above that of a packing of frictionless particles as a result of larger particle shape change.     

Thermal contact conductance for cylindrical and spherical contacts

A prediction methodology based on Monte-Carlo simulation model, developed for flat conforming surfaces in contact, is modified and extended to predict contact conductance between curvilinear surfaces like cylinders and spheres. Experiments are also conducted in vacuum for the measurement of contact conductance between stainless steel and aluminium cylindrical contacts and stainless steel spherical contacts over a range of contact pressures. The contact conductance between cylindrical and spherical bodies is, in general, about an order of magnitude lower than for flat surfaces in contact. Increase of surface roughness and decrease in contact pressure lowers the contact conductance. However, the influence of these parameters is larger than those obtained for flat surfaces. The prediction for different parametric conditions agree closely with those measured in the experiments.     

Development of Tactile Eye Stiffness Sensor

This article describes the design of a novel trans-scleral tonometer based on the use of multiple force sensors forming a mechanical stiffness sensor. The approach is akin to an instrumented form of digital palpation tonometry in which manual paplation is used to infer the stiffness, and hence, the intraocular pressure of the eye. Force indentation data from multiple probes has been shown to correlate with the intraocular pressure (IOP) using encucleated porcine eyes. A noticeable amount of hysteresis has been observed during indentations at higher rate. Analysis of the experimental data indicates that stress relaxation (accommodation) in the visco-elastic corneo-scleral shell is the primary factor of the observed hysteresis. Further tests under different indentation rates show that the novel tonometer is expected to have an accuracy of ±1 mmHg when the indentation rate is kept below 0.5 mm/sec for pressure range of 10–35 mmHg. Using a calibrated finite element model of the measurement, the effect of lateral and angular misalignment is also examined. The results show that the position and orientation of the tactile sensor has to be controlled to within ±1 mm and ±3° in order to achieve a target accuracy of ±1 mmHg.     

Experimental analysis of current and deformation of ion-exchange polymer metal composite actuators

In this paper we describe the experimental analysis of a novel ion-exchange polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator under large external voltage. The experimental analysis is supplemented with a coupled thermodynamic model, which includes mass transport across the thickness of the polymer actuator, chemical reactions at boundaries, and deformation as a function of the solvent (water) distribution. In this paper, the case of large electrode potentials (over 1.2 V) has been analyzed experimentally and theoretically. At these voltage levels, electrochemical reactions take place at both electrodes. These are used in the framework of overpotential theory to develop boundary conditions for the water transport in the bulk of polymer. The model is then simplified to a three-component system comprised of a fixed negatively charged polymeric matrix, protons, and free water molecules within the polymer matrix. Among these species, water molecules are considered to be the dominant species responsible for the deformation of the IPMC actuators. Experiments conducted at different initial water contents are described and discussed in the context of the proposed deformation mechanism. Comparison of numerical simulations with experimental data shows good agreement.     

Large deformation mechanics of a soft elastomeric layer under compressive loading for a MEMS tactile sensor application

The study is motivated by the need to develop highly sensitive tactile sensors for both robotic and bionic applications. The ability to predict the response of an elastomeric layer under severe pressure conditions is key to the development of highly sensitive capacitive tactile sensors capable of detecting the location and magnitude of applied forces over a broad range of contact severity and layer depression. Thus, in this work, a large deformation Mooney–Rivlin material model is employed in establishing the non-linear mechanics of an elastomeric layer of finite thickness, subjected to uniform displacement of controlled compression. Thus, an analytical non-linear model for the above described problem which is validated numerically via the method of finite elements is developed. Two dimensional, plane strain conditions of an infinitely long and of finite thickness elastomeric layer are assumed. The layer is subjected to a uniform vertical large displacement with symmetry conditions applied at the contact center. Cauchy normal and shear stress profiles as well as displacement profiles are established over a broad range of a layer compression including up to 40% of layer thinning. The model allows for the determination of the non-linear relationship between the relative separation of embedded conducting electrodes and thus the sensor capacitance during touch, to the force magnitude of the force concentrated at the symmetry plane or sensor center. The current model is expected to further improve the sensitivity and range of polymeric tactile sensors currently under development (Charalambides and Bergbreiter, 2013) [1]. As shown elsewhere (Kalayeh et al., 2015) [2], capacitance–force model predictions are found to be in remarkable agreement with experimental measurements for a broad family of self-similar pressure sensors.     

Nonlinear sensing of ionic polymer metal composites

In this paper, we develop a physics-based model for the charge dynamics of ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) in response to mechanical deformations. The proposed chemoelectromechanical model is based on the Poisson–Nernst–Planck system that describes the evolution of the voltage field and the counterion concentration as a dynamic strain is imposed to the IPMC. We use the method of matched asymptotic expansions to find a closed form solution for the Poisson–Nernst–Planck equations and derive an equivalent nonlinear circuit model that is amenable for parametric studies. We report results for a variety of loading scenarios to gather insight into the nonlinear characteristics of IPMC electrical response and their potential application in sensors and energy harvesting devices.     

Design and modeling of an endoscopic piezoelectric tactile sensor

The paper presents a proof-of-concept design of a tactile sensor capable of measuring compliance of a contact tissue/sensed object. The main objective of this study is to design and model a piezoelectric sensor capable of measuring the total applied force on the sensed object as well as its compliance. The sensor consists of a rigid and compliant cylindrical element. Determination of the compliance of sensed objects is based on the ratio of force experienced by the rigid cylinder to the total force applied to the sensor. To obtain this force ratio, a circular PVDF film is sandwiched between rigid cylinder and plate to measure the force applied on the rigid element and a rectangular PVDF film is sandwiched between the two base plates to measure the total force applied on the sensor. The detailed design of the senor was performed using finite element analysis. A prototype was fabricated and tested and it has been shown that good agreement exists between the finite element results and experimental values. The proposed sensor exhibits high force sensitivity and good linearity and offers the potential for future miniaturization in order to be integrated with the commercial endoscope graspers used in minimally invasive surgery.     

Investigation on the Design of Piezoelectric Actuator/Sensor for Damage Detection in Beam with Lamb Waves

Piezoelectric wafer type actuator/sensor is widely used to generate and sense Lamb waves for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). However, multiple Lamb waves modes are generally excited with this type of transducer. As a result, there is some difficulty in using Lamb waves for damage detection. To selectively generate a single A₀/S₀ Lamb mode, the tuned excitation of Lamb waves has been studied by some researchers. This paper investigates the design of the PZT actuator/sensor bonded to beam-like structure for generating single A₀/S₀ Lamb mode. In the study it is found that some factors, including the bonding layer, the unknown material properties and dynamical characteristics of the beam, will influence the design of PZT actuator/sensor. Piezoelectric impedance technique is introduced to facilitate the design of PZT actuator/sensor. Crack detection in beam using the tuned A₀/S₀ Lamb waves is performed.     

A review of development and implementation of an active nonlinear vibration absorber

Summary We present an account of an implementation of an active nonlinear vibration absorber that we have developed. The control technique exploits the saturation phenomenon that is known to occur in quadratically-coupled multi-degree-of-freedom systems subjected to primary excitation and possessing a two-to-one internal resonance. The technique is based on introducing an absorber and coupling it with the structure through a sensor and an actuator, where the feedback and control signals are quadratic. First, we consider the case of controlling the vibrations of a single-degree-of-freedom system. We develop the equations governing the response of the closed-loop system and use the method of multiple scales to obtain an approximate solution. We investigate the performance of the control strategy by studying its steady-state and transient characteristics. Additionally, we compare the performance of the quadratic absorber with that of a linear absorber. Then, we present theoretical and experimental results that demonstrate the versatility of the technique. We design an electronic circuit to emulate the absorber and use a variety of sensors and actuators to implement the active control strategy. First, we use a motor and a potentiometer to control the vibration of a rigid beam. We develop a plant model that includes Coulomb friction and demonstrate that the closed-loop system exhibits the saturation phenomenon. Second, we extend the strategy to multi-degree-of-freedom systems. We use PZT ceramics and strain gages to suppress vibrations of flexible steel beams when subjected to single- and simultaneous two-mode excitations. Third, we employ Terfenol-D, a nonlinear actuator, and accelerometers to control the vibrations of flexible beams. In all instances, the technique is successful in reducing the response amplitude of the structures. Received 3 May 1999; accepted for publication 3 June 1999     

压电自感知悬臂梁振动的主动控制研究

利用压电片的正逆压电效应,提出了一种基于分时结构的自感知作动器,将压电片作为传感器和作动器的功能在时间上进行分离,以实现用同一压电片在作动与传感之间的功能切换,并探讨了其用于主动控制的可行性,对一悬臂粱的振动主动控制研究表明该自感知作动器在实际上是可行的。     

Dynamic stability analysis of finite element modeling of piezoelectric composite plates

The dynamic stability of negative-velocity feedback control of piezoelectric composite plates using a finite element model is investigated. Lyapunov’s energy functional based on the derived general governing equations of motion with active damping is used to carry out the stability analysis, where it is shown that the active damping matrix must be positive semi-definite to guarantee the dynamic stability. Through this formulation, it is found that imperfect collocation of piezoelectric sensor/actuator pairs is not sufficient for dynamic stability in general and that ignoring the in-plane displacements of the midplane of the composite plate with imperfectly collocated piezoelectric sensor/actuator pairs may cause significant numerical errors, leading to incorrect stability conclusions. This can be further confirmed by examining the complex eigenvalues of the transformed linear first-order state space equations of motion. To overcome the drawback of finding all the complex eigenvalues for large systems, a stable state feedback law that satisfies the second Lyapunov’s stability criteria strictly is proposed. Numerical results based on a cantilevered piezoelectric composite plate show that the feedback control system with an imperfectly collocated PZT sensor/actuator pair is unstable, but asymptotic stability can be achieved by either bonding the PZT sensor/actuator pair together or changing the ply stacking sequence of the composite substrate to be symmetric. The performance of the proposed stable controller is also demonstrated. The presented stability analysis is of practical importance for effective design of asymptotically stable control systems as well as for choosing an appropriate finite element model to accurately predict the dynamic response of smart piezoelectric composite plates.     

A method for the selection of sensor and actuator locations

A new and efficient technique for determining optimal locations of sensors and actuators of intelligent structures is presented. The optimization of sensor and actuator locations is based on the 1st order singular value perturbations of observability and controllability. Using this method the optimal placements of sensors and actuators of the intelligent structurer can be selected. Two numerical examples are given to demonstrate the applications of the method. The impulse responses of structures due to different locations of actuators with the same control law are analyzed in detail. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Mechanical Technique Development Foundation of China     

Development, modeling and deflection analysis of hybrid micro actuator with integrated thermal and piezoelectric actuation

Micro actuators are irreplaceable part of motion control in minimized systems. The current study presents an analytical model for a new Hybrid Thermo Piezoelectric micro actuator based on the combination of piezoelectric and thermal actuation mechanisms. The micro actuator structure is a double PZT cantilever beam consisting of two arms with different lengths. The presented micro actuator uses the structure of electrothermal micro actuator in which polysilicon material is replaced by PZT. Also the voltage and poling directions are considered in the lengthwise of PZT beams. As a result, the piezoelectric actuation mechanism is based on d ₃₃ strain coefficient. The tip deflection of micro actuator is obtained using Timoshenko beam theory. Analytical results are compared with FEM results along with other reported results in the literature. The effects of geometrical parameters and PZT material constants on actuator tip deflection are studied to provide an efficient optimization of HTP micro actuator.     

压电智能梁振动控制的优化设计

本文研究了压电智能梁振动控制中压电传感作动元件的优化设计,并考虑了控制增益和结构阻尼的影响。采用负速度反馈控制策略及等效阻尼比优化准则。对简支梁和悬臂梁采用遍历搜索的方法计算了不同增益和结构阻尼下的优化,结果对进一步研究优化设计和振动控制有一定的参考价值。     

柔性结构作动器／传感器优化配置研究

从有效衰减振动能量的角度出发,在对位配置作动器／传感器的情况下,通过最小化系统总储能积分,对柔性结构振动主动控制中的作动器／传感器位置及反馈增益进行了优化。在优化方法上,作者提出了一种快速收敛的遗传算法,即“适应度缩放” 加引入“有偏外来移民”的遗传算法。实验结果表明了该方法的有效性和控制系统的良好减振效果。     

Dynamics of Digital Force Control Applied in Rehabilitation Robotics

Controlled structures are often required to keep desired contact forces between some of its elements. A classical example is the controlled interaction of a robot with its environment when the control of the contact force between the robotic actuator and the workpiece is prescribed. Experiments often call the attention to the destabilising digital effects, like sampling, in these systems. In this paper the stability of a newly developed force based teaching-in method is analysed. The method is applied in rehabilitation robotics. The stability limits are presented in the parameter space of the sampling time, control gains and mechanical parameters of the robot. The least force error and the fastest settling force signal are calculated. The influence of the elasticity of the force sensor is analysed as well as the possible bifurcations. Real parameter case study confirms the analytical predictions.     

Optimization of jet parameters to control the flow on a ramp

This study deals with the use of optimization algorithms to determine efficient parameters of flow control devices. To improve the performance of systems characterized by detached flows and vortex shedding, the use of flow control devices such as oscillatory jets are intensively studied. However, the determination of efficient control parameters is still a bottleneck for industrial problems. Therefore, we propose to couple a global optimization algorithm with an unsteady flow simulation to derive efficient flow control rules. We consider as a test case a backward-facing step with a slope of 25°, including a synthetic jet actuator. The aim is to reduce the time-averaged recirculation length behind the step by optimizing the jet blowing/suction amplitude and frequency.