Mr. Paolo Germano Profile

Paolo Germano

at EPFL

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Proceedings Article | 9 May 2024 Poster + Paper

Inversing the actuation cycle of dielectric elastomer actuators for a facial prosthesis

Stefania Konstantinidi, Quentin De Menech, Thomas Martinez, Paolo Germano, Alexis Boegli, Yoan Civet, Yves Perriard

Proceedings Volume 12945, 129450V (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3010529

KEYWORDS: Dielectric elastomer actuators, Muscles, Electrodes, Power consumption, Deformation, Silicon, Dielectrics, Skin

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Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) are a type of smart material described as compliant capacitors. They show impressive performances as soft actuators, such as a high strain and fast response. Nonetheless, replicating natural muscle function with DEAs has posed a challenge since DEAs exhibit in-plane expansion, whereas natural muscles contract when stimulated. This publication aims to investigate the use of a normal configuration of DEAs to obtain a contractile movement for post paralysis facial reanimation, by inversing its actuation cycle: the voltage applied on the DEA will constantly be on to keep the DEA stretched and will be off when a contraction movement is wanted, for instance for smiling. Several difficulties linked to this solution need to be considered, such as the self-discharge rate of the DEA, linked to the leakage current flowing through the dielectric when a voltage is applied. The leakage current corresponds to a leakage of charge between the two electrodes and is suggested to influence the self-discharge rate but also the dielectric breakdown and the performance of the actuator. As DEAs present a fast self-discharging rate, the charging frequency of DEAs should be determined to avoid unwanted displacement leading to visible facial spasms. DEAs and their self-discharge rate are characterized, to determine the chosen charging frequency and duty cycle for facial reanimation. The goal is to have the minimum discharge between two actuation cycles. A discharge model was proposed and validated experimentally, allowing to determine a chosen frequency of 2 Hz and 50% duty cycle, leading to a discharge of less than 3% between two actuation cycles, and thus allows to consume 1.5% less energy over each cycle compared to a continuous actuation.

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