STACKED ELECTROSTATIC ACTUATOR

• Main Authors: ITO, Makoto, IZUMITANI, Hikaru, SANEYOSHI, Keiji
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 06.04.2022
• Subjects: CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; ELECTRIC MACHINES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; GENERATION; MICROSTRUCTURAL DEVICES OR SYSTEMS, e.g. MICROMECHANICALDEVICES; MICROSTRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING

Provided is a stacked electrostatic actuator that exhibits a sufficient contraction force even when pulled by a large external force and the contraction rate thereof does not decrease even under a light load. A stacked electrostatic actuator includes a plurality of electrode films each including a three-layer structure including a first insulating layer, a conductor layer, and a second insulating layer, in which each of the electrode films includes, on the first insulating layer of the electrode film, a bonding region P subjected to surface processing so as to be bonded to another electrode film and a non-bonding region Q not bonded to the another electrode film, and a boundary C between the bonding region P and the non-bonding region Q has a wavy pattern that can be defined using at least one curvature radius of a finite value, and the bonding region P of a first electrode film and the bonding region P of a second electrode film immediately below the first electrode film are stacked and arranged such that the bonding regions do not overlap each other in a stacking direction and that an axis of the wavy pattern of the boundary C of the first electrode film and an axis of the wavy pattern of the boundary C of the second electrode film are parallel to each other, and the first electrode film and the second electrode film are bonded by the bonding region P of the first insulating layer of the second electrode film, so that the plurality of electrode films has electrode portions where the two electrode films are bonded and hinge portions where the two electrode films are not bonded when viewed from the stacking direction, and when the stacked electrostatic actuator is pulled in the stacking direction by an external force, the hinge portions are elastically deformed to separate the electrode portions from each other and the stacked electrostatic actuator extends in the stacking direction, and when a voltage is applied between the conductor layers of the plurality of electrode films, a distance between the electrode portions separated from each other is reduced by electrostatic force so that the stacked electrostatic actuator contracts in the stacking direction.