Research On Performance Optimization And Control For The IPMC Multi-Unit Actuator

IPMC(Ionic Polymer Metal Composites)as a kind of ionic electro-active polymer(EAP)smart material presents several advantages,e.g.small driving voltage,large strain,light quality,good flexibility and low power consumption.Therefore,IPMC shows a significant application value in the areas of biological fabrication,etc.Currently,in the research interest of the actuators using IPMC materials,the issues mainly focus on the direct application of the single IPMC strip to manufacture some equipment,which present several drawbacks,such as the small output force and the unstable motions,etc.Thus,to some extent,it will present some limitations for its application in engineering practice.In this paper,according to above analysis,an innovative actuator structure of IPMC was provided.And after the investigation of driving characteristics,a multi-unit actuator of IPMC was determined by the research of its characteristics.Then,its control system was also developed.Finally,a bionic fish tail was built to analyze by used the IPMC multi-unit actuator.First of all,the principles and processes for preparation of IPMC were analyzed,and the preparation processes were optimized and improved from three aspects.By changing temperature immersing in silver ammonia solution,the preparation period was further shorten.According to the quantitative analysis of the experimental drug,the experimental drug dosage was standardized,and raw materials were further saved,which reduced the cost to some extent.Then,IPMC electrode plating was optimized and the conductive performance of electrode was improved,which could improve the performance of IPMC.Secondly,on the basis of improvement of the preparation processes,the IPMC multi-unit actuator was studied and established.Through the comparison of experiments,the size and structure of IPMC which has best performance was determined.Using single chip symmetrical arrangement constructs,the double piece of IPMC composition unit was performed,and the size of electrode block lining was optimized.After testing for double piece of IPMC composition unit with series and parallel designing,the IPMC multi-unit actuator was achieved by adopting the double parallel unit structure.And the driving performance of IPMC multi-unit actuator under different electrical signal was tested.Then,a control system was designed and produced,whose main modules included of signal producing module,analog-to-digital conversion module,power module and key module,etc.Through the combination of hardware and software,the controller could realize the output-5~+5 V AC electrical signals within the scope,while the frequency range could be adjust between 0.1~5 Hz.Based on the waveform code programming,the square wave and sine wave signal output could obtained,which could satisfy the requirement of the control for IPMC multi-unit actuator.Finally,the construction of the bionic fish tail prototype was designed and investigated.Moreover,based on the movement characteristics of biological fish tail,the structure model of bionic fish tail was designed and its movement structure was established.Using the 3D printing technology,parts of the bionic fish tail were printed.After the parts assembling,the fish tail prototype was fabricated,and the performance output rules were researched through experiment testing.