Performance Improvement And Application Of Dielectric EAP Roll Drive Unit

The roll2-DOF drive unit made of dielectric EAP has the properties of compact structure, largeoutput force, low mass and inexpensive, and has potential application prospect in the field of bionicrobot. The performance improvement and application research of the drive unit are studied in thispaper, and the topic has important value of research.The structure and manufacturing process of the roll2-DOF drive unit are analyzed, and thebiaxial stretching device and the EAP membrane rolling device are improved. The improved biaxialstretching device can improve the pre-stretching quality of EAP membrane. The improved EAPmembrane rolling device can implement the automatic rolling function, avoid secondary stretchingand electrode dislocation, and improve the rolling quality of drive unit. Several instability and failureforms are analyzed, and the methods to avoid instability and failure are introduced.On basis of analysis in the geometric characteristics and the stress characteristics of the linearscaling and bending deformation of the drive unit, the geometry equation, the balance equation andthe boundary conditions are deduced. The constitutive equations combined with the equations andconditions above, the output displacement (linear displacement and angular displacement included)and output force (linear output force and lateral output force included) of the2-DOF drive unit arecalculated through programmed with MATLAB.The measuring device of displacement and output force is built to test the output properties of theunit. The drive unit has linear displacement of8.4mm and maximum output force of8.37N at5kV,and bending angle of75.3°and maximum lateral force of0.705N at5kV. The results show that theexperimental data and theoretical data are consistent, and the stress and strain of the EAP membranein the case of drive unit bending are provided and analyzed.Single drive unit robot and tetrad drive unit serial robot are designed, and the control program iswritten with LABVIEW. The experiments of different gaits of the single drive unit are performed, andthe factors that affect its movement speed are analyzed. Tetrad drive unit winding robot gait is plannedwith Serpenoid curve, and the motion experiments are performed and analyzed.