Robotic Materials

Hydraulically Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic Transducers Harnessing Zipping Mechanism

2021

Patent

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Hydraulically-amplified, self-healing, electrostatic transducers that harness electrostatic and hydraulic forces to achieve various actuation modes. Electrostatic forces between electrode pairs of the transducers generated upon application of a voltage to the electrode pairs draws the electrodes in each pair towards each other to displace a liquid dielectric contained within an enclosed internal cavity of the transducers to drive actuation in various manners. The electrodes and the liquid dielectric form a self-healing capacitor whereby the liquid dielectric automatically fills breaches in the liquid dielectric resulting from dielectric breakdown. Due to the resting shape of the cavity, a zipping-mechanism allows for selectively actuating the electrodes to a desired extent by controlling the voltage supplied.

Author(s): Christoph Matthias Keplinger and Eric Lucas Acome and Nicholas Alexander Kellaris and Shane Karl Mitchell and Timothy G Morrissey
Number (issue): US Patent 20210003149A1
Year: 2021
Month: January
Day: 7
Department(s): Robotic Materials
Bibtex Type: Patent (patent)
Paper Type: Patent
URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210003149A1/en

BibTex 

@patent{Keplinger20-P-Hydraulically ,
  title = {Hydraulically Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic Transducers Harnessing Zipping Mechanism},
  author = {Keplinger, Christoph Matthias and Acome, Eric Lucas and Kellaris, Nicholas Alexander and Mitchell, Shane Karl and Morrissey, Timothy G},
  number = {US Patent 20210003149A1},
  month = jan,
  year = {2021},
  doi = {},
  url = {https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210003149A1/en},
  month_numeric = {1}
}