An Electrostatic Linear Film Actuator with Passive Phase Switching

Junsoo Kim, Claudia Sánchez, Seongju Byeon, Concepción A. Monje, Amy Kyungwon Han, Herbert Shea

PDF

AI summary

Key figure (auto-extracted from paper)

Mechanical brush contacts enable autonomous phase switching under DC voltage, delivering fast, large-stroke motion without sensors or complex drivers.

Electrostatic actuator Passive phase switching Soft robotics Artificial muscle DC-driven actuation Brush contact

Problem

Multi-layer electrostatic actuators lose force additivity under bending or misalignment and typically require complex multi-phase AC drivers and external sensors to maintain force direction.

Approach

The design integrates patterned brush contacts between a moving slider and segmented stator electrodes to mechanically assign high voltage or ground, autonomously switching phases under a single DC source.

Key results

Autonomous sensor-free phase switching under DC excitation
Peak speed of 280 mm/s at 700 V in dielectric liquid
39 mm travel in 300 ms with 27 mm reversible stroke
Demonstrated lifting of a 5 g mass under 1 kV DC

Why it matters

Simplifies power electronics and enables scalable, misalignment-tolerant electrostatic artificial muscles for soft robotics and wearable devices.

Abstract

No abstract on file.

Index terms

Actuation and Joint Mechanisms Human-Centered Robotics Prosthetics and Exoskeletons