Abstract
Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are known for their excellent properties, making them particularly attractive for numerous applications. Since they are mainly based on inexpensive materials, they are in principle well suited for low-cost products. However, this requires consideration of other factors, such as the realization of standardized and scalable system designs that use identical parts to reduce product variation and enable mass production quantities. Previous work has proposed to accomplish this for DEAs by coupling them with compliant joint linkage transmission mechanisms that are configurable in their force and stroke output. With this approach, different load profiles are served with the same standardized DEA layout without changing its shape or dimension. This paper follows this concept and presents a demonstrator consisting of two actuator systems based on identical DEAs and biasing mechanisms. However, by coupling them to differently configured linkage transmission mechanisms each, one system is magnified in output force and one in output stroke. Both systems are mounted on a common base plate and connected to compact high-voltage power supplies each, that can be switched on and off manually. When actuated, one can see in direct comparison that one system provides a larger stroke on the output side than the other system, even though the DEA exhibits similar elongation in both systems. The functional principle visualized with the demonstrator is supported by experimental characterization of both systems with respect to their transmission properties and force-displacement behavior.
