This paper describes the fabrication and characteristics of an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) membrane-shaped micro-actuator and its application to the fabrication of a micro-pump. After fabricating two 8mm×8mm IPMC membraneshaped actuators using a Nafion film, their displacements were measured. The fabricated IPMC membrane-shaped micro-actuators showed displacement of 14∼27μm at the appl...

IONIC POLYMER-METAL COMPOSITE ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES AND SENSORS: A CONTROL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE By Zheng Chen Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) form an important category of electroactive polymers (EAPs), also known as artificial muscles. IPMCs have many potential applications in robotics, biomedical devices, and micro/nano manipulation systems. In this dissertation, a systems perspective is t...

This paper discusses the model reference adaptive control problem for ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators. Firstly, a mathematical model of the IPMC actuator is constructed as a stable second order dynamical system preceded by a hysteresis representation. Then, an adaptive controller is synthesized for the IPMC actuator. The proposed control law ensures the global stability of the co...

Simple and highly efficient microvalve systems based on an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) diaphragm actuator have been developed. The microvalve system that was fabricated in this work operates when open and close voltage is applied, due to the phenomena of lithium ion flux and the subsequent electro-osmotic drag of water to the cathode. IPMC was prepared by compositing with platinum nano...

— An IPMC composite is an electroactive material that behaves in an electric field similarly to biological muscles. This intelligent material is leading to a new emerging technology called non-uniformly charged IPMC actuators. This paper introduces first an IPMC analytical modeling approach for its electromechanical characterization. The model considers, for the first time, the action of gravit...

Abstract Compact sensing methods are desirable for ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) actuators in microrobotic and biomedical applications. In this paper a novel sensing scheme for IPMC actuators is proposed by bonding an IPMC and a PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) thin film with an insulating layer in between. The insulating layer thickness is properly designed to minimize the stiffness of th...

In this paper, a new application of an electro-active-polymer for a radio frequency (RF) switch is presented. We used an ionic polymer metallic composite (IPMC) switch to change the operating frequency of an inverted-F antenna. This switch is light in weight, small in volume, and low in cost. In addition, the IPMC is suitable for mobile devices because of its driving voltage of 3 volts and thic...

MODELING AND FABRICATION OF IONIC POLYMER-METAL COMPOSITE (IPMC) SENSORS By Hong Lei Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) are an important class of electroactive polymers (EAPs) with built-in actuation and sensing capabilities. They have received tremendous interest for their potential in various sensor applications. In this dissertation, a physics-based dynamic model is proposed for cantilev...

Accurate measurements of air and fuel flows in automobile engines are critical because they govern the fuel-air mixing processes in the combustion chamber that could directly impact the combustion efficiency and exhaust emissions. In this paper, we present preliminary results on using ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) materials as a flow sensing mechanism for automotive applications. Under a...

Ion-exchange polymer membrane metallic composites (IPMC) are one of the electroactive polymers (EAP) that were shown to have potential application as actuators. The recent introduction of perfluorocarboxylategold composite with tetra-n-butylammonium and lithium cations instead of sodium made the most significant improvement of the material's electroactivity. Under less than 3 volts, such IPMC m...