Design of a custom electronic driver for dielectric elastomer actuators

Actuators based on Dielectric Elastomers are a promising technology in robotic and mechatronic applications. The overall actuator performances are influenced by the non-linear and highly coupled electrical and mechanical behavior of the employed materials. To date, the practical electro-mechanical response and controllability of actuators based on Dielectric Elastomers are limited by the inadequacy of the employed driving circuits, which are based on voltage-regulated converters. In this paper a novel activation strategy is proposed for Dielectric Elastomer actuators, which is based on a custom electronic driver derived from the flyback transformer topology. The flyback converter design is based on the specifications given by the Dielectric Elastomer actuator mechanical design and the desired actuator response.