Flexible Vibrotactile Actuator Based on Dielectric Elastomer for Smart Handheld Devices

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 11; no. 24; p. 12020
• Main Authors: Heo, Yong Hae, Choi, Dong-Soo, Kim, Do Eun, Kim, Sang-Youn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2021
• Subjects: Actuators; Adhesives; dielectric elastomer; Dielectric properties; Dielectrics; Ecoflex; Elastomers; Electric potential; Electrostatic properties; Fingerprinting; flexible; Frequency ranges; haptic actuator; haptic display; Haptics; Mechanoreceptors; PDMS; Polydimethylsiloxane; Polymers; Vibration; Voltage; United States > US
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app112412020

This paper presents an electroactive and soft vibrotactile actuator based on a dielectric elastomer. The vibrotactile actuator is composed of an upper layer, an adhesive tape layer, a dielectric layer with bumps, and a lower layer. When a voltage is applied to the actuator, an electrostatic force created between the upper and lower layers pulls the upper layer down, compressing the dielectric layer. As soon as the applied voltage is released, the upper layer is quickly restored to its initial state by the elastic force of the compressed dielectric elastomer. Because two forces contribute to the actuation at the same time, the created vibration is sufficiently strong to stimulate human mechanoreceptors. When the applied voltage is removed, the upper layer and dielectric elastomer return to their initial shapes. We conducted experiments to determine the best weight ratio of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Ecoflex, and to quantitatively investigate the haptic performance of the proposed vibrotactile actuator. The experiments clearly show that the plasticized vibrotactile actuator can create a variety of haptic sensations over a wide frequency range.