• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.112-120
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• 2003

The composite of ionic polymer and metal has been fabricated and used for actuators. Platinum is deposited by electroless plating method onto the both sides of ionic polymer where ac voltage is applied. This results in the bending motion of a beam type actuator. In this paper, the fabrication method of ionic polymer-metal composite has been explained and the moving mechanism has been fabricated and measured using the ionic polymer-metal composite actuator. The moving mechanism is wireless type and the power is supplied through the rail electrodes in base plate. The maximum speed of the moving mechanism was about 24cm/min.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.714-717
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• 2007

In this study, a novel actuator was developed by employing the newly-synthesized ionic networking membrane (INM) of poly (styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PSMAn)-incorporated poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). Based on the same original membrane, various samples of INM actuator were prepared through different reduction times with the electroless-plating technique. The as-prepared INM actuators were tested in terms of surface resistance, platinum morphology, resonance frequency, tip displacement, current and blocked force, and their performance was compared to that of the widely-used traditional Nafion actuator. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that much smaller and more uniform platinum particles were formed on the surfaces of the INM actuators as well as within their polymer matrix. Although excellent harmonic response was observed for the newly-developed INM actuators, this was found to be sensitive to the applied reduction times during the fabrication. The mechanical displacement of the INM actuator fabricated after optimum reduction times was much larger than that of its Nafion counterpart of comparable thickness under the stimulus of constant and alternating current voltage.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.263-267
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• 2006

A new thermal bimorph actuator for large out-of-plane displacement is designed, fabricated and tested. The deflecting beam is composed of polyimide, heater, and polyvinyl difluorides with tetrafluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE). The large difference of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of two polymer layers (polyimide and PVDF-TrFE) can generate a significant deflection with relatively small temperature rise. Compared to the most conventional micro actuators based on MEMS (micro-electro mechanical system) technology, a large displacement, over 1 mm at 20 mW, could be achieved. Additionally, we can achieve response time of 14.6 ms, resonance frequency of 12 Hz, and reliability ability of $10^5$ cycles. The proposed actuator can find applications where a large vertical displacement is needed while maintaining compact overall device size, such as a micro zooming lens, micro mirror, micro valve and optical application.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.105-112
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• 2002

The low actuation voltage and quick bending response of IPMC(ion-exchange polymer metal composite) are considered attractive for the construction of various types of actuators. In this study, in order to develop a new type actuators by using the IPMC platinum electrode of IPMC are fabricated by using electroless impregnation-reduction method plating. As the platinum-plating times are increased, IPMC performance was improved in terms of bending displacement and force due to the enhanced surface conductivity. In addition, we investigated the basic actuation characteristics of resonance frequency and actuator length as well as the effect of water uptake and ion mobility. Using the classical laminate theory(CLT), a modeling methodology was developed to predict the deformation, bending moment, and residual stress distribution of anisotropic IPMC thin plates. In this modeling methodology, the internal stress evolved by the unsymmetric distribution of water inside IPMC was quantitatively calculated and subsequently the bending moment and the curvature were estimated for various geometry of IPMC actuator.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.374-375
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• 2008

In this study, the nano-composite actuator based on Fullerene and Nafion was newly developed to improve the electro active polymer actuators. The tensile test was employed to define the mechanical stiffness and strength of the nano-composite membrane. Also, the bending displacement of the Fullerene-Nafion based nano-composite actuator was investigated under DC and AC excitations with various magnitudes and frequencies. As a result, the new nano-composite actuator based on Fullerene-Nafion shows much larger deformation than the pure Nafion based actuator and solves the straightening back Problem of the previous electro active polymer actuators.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.1286-1289
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• 2004

A new thermal bimorph actuator for large out-of-plane displacement is designed, fabricated and tested. The deflecting beam is composed of polyimide, heater, and polyvinyl difluorides with tetrafluoroethylene(PVDF-TrFE). The large difference of coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE) of two polymer layers (polyimide and PVDF-TrFE) can generate a large deflection with relatively small temperature rising. Compared to the most conventional micro actuators based on MEMS(micro-electro mechanical system) technology, a large displacement, over 1 mm at 20 mW, could be achieved. The proposed actuator can find applications where a large vertical displacement is needed while keeping compact overall device size, such as a micro zooming lens.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.24-30
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• 2008

The laminate IPMC actuator have been developed with a commercial Nafion film and platinum electrodes. Equivalent beam and equivalent bimorph beam models for IPMC(Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite) actuators are described. By using a beam equation with estimated physical properities and actuation displacements of a cantilevered IPMC actuator are estimated. And Finite element analysis(FEA) was done by ANSYS.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.579-580
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• 2010

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.429-435
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• 2007

A number of different alternative actuation methods have been under active development for some specific applications where the traditional electromechanical actuators are difficult to apply. Recently, many of these substitutes are trying to employ new smart materials like electroactive polymers. However most of the polymeric materials are flexible and vulnerable so that they normally can not sustain external forces. Although the materials have shown a good potential to be used for alternative actuation mechanisms, no tangible industrial application is yet presented because of the reason. A conceptual design for a rectilinear motion actuator using dielectric elastomer is presented in this article. The introduced design concept might enable to produce fairly controllable rectilinear motions for various applications and the presented prototype actuator system is fully packaged in a small unit and controlled by a standard communication interface.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.156-163
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• 2013

This paper describes a flexible visuo-haptic display module. We have developed a flexible electro-active polymer (EAP) actuator and a thin flexible visual display with $3{\times}3$ array configuration via polymer technology. The flexible actuator consists of nine EAP cells vertically moving in response to change in their thickness. The flexible display uses polymer based optical waveguide allowing light to scatter only at specific area. The display film is transparent and identically designed to the array pattern to fit for the arrangement of actuator cells. A pressure sensor is installed under the integrated module. The performance of the actuator is proved to be sufficient for satisfying perceivable range of human touch sense. The integrated system can provide interactive haptic feedback such as key pressing, contact vibration sensations, and etc. in accordance with user input.